BUMPED Update: Video
Obama is a strong supporter of “Employee Free Choice Act” (also known as the Card Check bill) sponsored by Ted Kennedy.
Did not get a pass, but high probability with Obama in POTUS seat. Looking forward to it with Obama as POTUS.
Obama told the AFL-CIO this year, “I will make it the law of the land when I’m president of the United States.”
Minus on the “Employee Free Choice Act”?
…instead of preserving workers’ ability to make the decision to unionize by secret ballot, it does just the opposite. The bill makes it much easier to create a union at a business — the union bosses can publicly pressure a majority of workers to sign union authorization cards (thus, the name “card check”). There is NO secret ballot — workers sign the cards in front of other employees and union leaders, and union officials keep the signed cards until they obtain the required number. Under the watchful eyes (and arm twisting) of union organizers, workers will be intimidated into signing.
Once the union leaders are accepted as the exclusive bargaining agent for the workers, employees can then freely vote for or against the union in a secret ballot.
…card check process creates heavy peer pressure to support the union publicly, even if workers have misgivings privately.
Has anyone ever heard of union intimidation in this country?
The potential for abuse is enormous. Even long-time Democrat George McGovern is opposed to the Card Check bill: “To my friends supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, I say this: We cannot be a party that strips working Americans of the right to a secret-ballot election. We are the party that has always defended the rights of the working class. To fail to ensure the right to vote free of intimidation and coercion from all sides would be a betrayal of what we have always championed.”
McGovern wrote an op-ed column against it in the Wall Street Journal and cut an ad that ran during the last presidential debate in which he stated that democracy was at risk. In this Fox News appearance, one can see that McGovern is almost literally putting all his energy into defeating this proposal.
Sen. McCain opposes the pro-union bill.
“I am strongly opposed to H.R. 800, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act of 2007. Not only is the bill’s title deceptive, the enactment of such an ill-conceived legislative measure would be a gross deception to the hard-working Americans who would fall victim to it.”
