HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Democrats Double Down, Renew Push to Pass Job-Killing “Card Check” Legislation

Earlier this year, union bosses and their Democratic allies in Congress tried to push through “card check” legislation, which would have eliminated the secret ballot for workers and institute “binding arbitration,” which the Wall Street Journal refers to as “federal wage setting.”  Thanks to united Republican opposition, “card check” appeared dead in the water, until today - when, as the Associated Press reported this afternoon, President Obama met with union bosses and pledged to double down on his efforts to pass “card check” that will eliminate secret ballots, undermine workers, and kill more American jobs.

In fact, a study published in March of this year found that if union ranks grew by 1.5 million in the first year after enactment of “card check,” as predicted by union leaders, 600,000 jobs would be lost the following year.  

In an op-ed published in March by the Politico, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wrote:

Let me be clear: There will be no compromise on eliminating the rights of workers to vote by secret ballot in union organizing elections. Republicans will oppose any effort to deprive American workers of the basic right to vote in a secret ballot election without fear of intimidation or recrimination. There will be no compromise on the issue of mandatory binding arbitration in contract negotiations. Republicans will oppose any effort to allow government to unilaterally impose contracts and set wages, benefits and work rules.

At a time when the unemployment rate is nearing 10 percent, why would Democrats want to push through a bill that will kill even more American jobs?

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GOP Governors Slam “Card Check” as “Absolutely Unacceptable”

Six Republican Governors have joined a growing chorus of American workers, business leaders, and politicians who are standing up for worker’s rights by opposing big labor’s “card check” bill.  The Governors’ statements come one week after House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) launched the GOP “State Solutions” project to highlight better solutions coming from outside the Beltway.

Union bosses thought that by giving $450 million to elect pro-union Democrats last election cycle, they’d be able to silence any opposition to “card check” legislation.  Well, union bosses haven’t succeeded in passing their job-killing agenda yet.

Politico’s Ben Smith published a blog post today “GOP Govs Versus Card Check,” that highlighted the Republican Governors’ rationale in opposing card check:

Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) said that: “Card check would take our state and nation in the exact opposite direction we need to be moving to become more competitive in the 21st Century…In today’s economy, the last thing in the world Congress should be advancing is a measure to increase costs for the American consumer and business community.”

Governor Haley Barbour (R-MS): “Card check is an insidious infringement on the right of American workers to cast a confidential ballot in deciding whether or not they want union representation.  This is particularly unfair for small businesses, the real engine of the American economy that generates nearly 80 percent of net new jobs.”

Governor Sonny Perdue (R-GA): “Card check would abolish the most fundamental of American rights, the right to a secret ballot.  It’s the last thing our country and economy needs right now.  If we do this, what’s next?  Naming the CEOs of major American companies?”

Governor Butch Otter (R-ID): “The Act would eliminate the confidentially of the secret ballot, exposing workers to potential intimidation and harassment, creating an outrageous abridgement of individual rights.  And it would impose contract terms on employers beyond those even requested by local workers - essentially making the federal government a shill for union bosses far removed from the workplace.  Such a fundamental restructuring of federal labor laws is intolerable.”

Governor Mike Rounds (R-SD): “It should be made very clear that this would apply to any business that has more than $50,000 in revenues per year.  Those businesses would have a clear threat of unionization.  They would be subject to unionization without a private ballot and subject to mandatory binding arbitration involving a federal bureaucrat.  This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX): “The secret ballot is sacred in America.  Card check is just plain unfair and un-American.”

House Republicans couldn’t agree more.  House Republican Leader John Boehner has made it clear that the House GOP will stand firmly on the side of workers’ rights:  “There will be no compromise on eliminating the rights of workers to vote by secret ballot in union organizing elections.” 

House Republicans believe that the secret ballot is a sacred right which should never be abandoned.  Accordingly, Reps. John Kline (R-MN), Buck McKeon (R-CA), and Tom Price (R-GA) have introduced the Secret Ballot Protection Act to guarantee workers’ right to a secret ballot in the workplace.

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No Room For Compromise on “Card Check”

Democrats and their union bosses have been pushing hard for Congress to pass “card check” legislation that would deprive workers of their long-held right to a secret ballot.  But the Democrats’ efforts have not gone unnoticed by the American people, and they are making their opposition to this job-killing bill known to their representatives in Washington.  As a result, unions are doubling down on their push to pass “card check.”

Politico has a special section in today’s paper on “Labor’s Future,” in which the authors note that “[d]espite a setback on Capitol Hill, union leaders vow to press ahead for a law to provide new organizing tools.”  Another Politico story states that “[t]he bill hinges on the Senate votes of a few key moderates from both parties,” where unions may push for a “compromise” bill that achieves union bosses’ aims under another name.

Today, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has an op-ed in the Politico entitled “GOP Won’t Compromise Secret Ballots,” which makes it plain and clear that House Republicans aren’t about to sell workers rights down the river.  In the op-ed, Leader Boehner states:

Let me be clear: There will be no compromise on eliminating the rights of workers to vote by secret ballot in union organizing elections. Republicans will oppose any effort to deprive American workers of the basic right to vote in a secret ballot election without fear of intimidation or recrimination. There will be no compromise on the issue of mandatory binding arbitration in contract negotiations. Republicans will oppose any effort to allow government to unilaterally impose contracts and set wages, benefits and work rules.

Last week, Fox News ran a story which highlighted the danger that implementing “card check” would bring to workers’ rights:

House Republicans believe that the secret ballot is a sacred right which should never be abandoned.  Accordingly, Reps. John Kline (R-MN), Buck McKeon (R-CA), and Tom Price (R-GA) have introduced the Secret Ballot Protection Act to guarantee workers’ right to a secret ballot in the workplace.

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Anti-Worker “Card Check” Bill Introduced: Democratic Support Erodes Amid Union Infighting, Testimony of Union Boss’ Intimidation

Yesterday, Democrats introduced a job-killing “Card Check” bill only to find that support continues to erode among Democrats in Congress, despite increased majorities in both Houses after last year’s elections.  Several Democrats, including Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), have called “Card Check” “divisive” and a bill that “we don’t need that right now.”

In fact, there are fewer co-sponsors of “Card Check” legislation in the 111th Congress than there were in the 110th Congress.

The unveiling of “Card Check” was also met by growing union infighting: as Roll Call reported yesterday, “A leading union for hotel and restaurant workers on Tuesday accused the Service Employers International Union of trying to steal its members by using a negative direct-mail campaign to sow discontent within its ranks.”

Public backing of the secret ballot remains strong - 86% of Americans do not wish to see the elimination of the private ballot in union elections in the workplace, according to a McLaughlin & Associates poll conducted in January.

Shortly before “Card Check” was introduced, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions heard testimony from Larry Getts, a worker who saw firsthand what he called the pressure, badgering, and intimidation that comes from a card check public sign-up process:

Union organizers waited for us in the break room, sat with us at lunch whether we wanted them to or not, and walked us to our cars at the end of the day.  The entire time they were constantly badgering us to sign the cards. …I refused to sign the card every time they asked, and I know many others shared my sentiment.  But none of that mattered to the UAW, because the pressure did not let up.  In fact, one day, an official approached me again claiming fifty percent of the plant had signed — so now I was going to have to sign the card to ‘get my information in the system.’

I signed the card then because I thought I had to. I didn’t learn until later that even then, I should not have been forced to sign the card.  I hope you’ll vote to defeat the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.

Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) supports the secret ballot and opposes the Democrats’ bill that would lead to worker intimidation and, according to a recent study, would cost 600,000 jobs. 

Leader Boehner stated that:

The right to a secret ballot is a cornerstone of our American democracy, and it is equally vital to protect privacy in the workplace.  No one should have the right to pressure workers into making their personal views on unionization known to their co-workers, their employers, and union officials.  Working families across America are struggling amid this recession, and they deserve better than what Washington Democrats and their special-interest allies are trying to thrust upon them.  They deserve to have their privacy respected on the job, and they deserve to know their leaders in Washington are not compromising Americans’ job security in a not-so-thinly-veiled payback to special interests that helped Democrats get elected.

Leader Boehner and House Republicans do not believe that eliminating the secret ballot and empowering union bosses is the way to grow our economy and create jobs in America - that’s why House Republicans agree with Warren Buffett that “the secret ballot’s pretty important.”

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Warren Buffett Blasts Two Key Democratic Priorities, Criticizes “Cap-and-Trade” & “Card Check”

This morning on CNBC, billionaire investor and prominent Obama supporter and economic advisor Warren Buffett slammed two key priorities Democrats have been pushing for in Washington.  First, Buffett called the President’s $646 billion “cap and trade” proposal a “regressive tax” that “customers are going to pay for.”

Mr. Buffett also called the anti-worker “card check” proposal “contentious,” and said “I’m against card check to make a perfectly flat statement.”

The Wall Street Journal echoed Mr. Buffett’s sentiment on “cap and trade” in an editorial published today, calling “cap and trade” the “tax that dare not speak its name.”  The Journal stated that:

Hit hardest would be the ‘95% of working families’ Mr. Obama keeps mentioning, usually omitting that his no-new-taxes pledge comes with the caveat ‘unless you use energy.’  Putting a price on carbon is regressive by definition because poor and middle-income households spend more of their paychecks on things like gas to drive to work, groceries or home heating…

In his budget, Mr. Obama wants to recycle $525 billion through the ‘making work pay’ tax credit that goes to many people who don’t pay income taxes.  But $400 for individuals and $800 for families still doesn’t offset carbon’s income raid, especially in states with higher carbon use…

Cap and trade, in other words, is a scheme to redistribute income and wealth — but in a very curious way.  It takes from the working class and gives to the affluent; takes from Miami, Ohio, and gives to Miami, Florida; and takes from an industrial America that is already struggling and gives to rich Silicon Valley and Wall Street ‘green tech’ investors who know how to leverage the political class.

House Republicans, led by Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), have condemned the “cap and trade” proposal as a “carbon tax” that will hit every single American and criticized “card check” as job killer - as a new study confirmed - that would deny secret ballot elections to workers.

At a time when American families are hurting and businesses are struggling, now is not the time to tax the American people every time they flip on a light switch or ship American jobs overseas by passing “card check.”

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President Pushes For Anti-Worker “Card Check” Bill That Would Hurt the Economy

Yesterday, President Obama promised union bosses that “We will pass the Employee Free Choice Act,” referring to the mis-named official title of the bill popularly known as “card check.”  Unions came within a few votes of passing “card check” last Congress - and after giving $450 million to the Democratic Party this past election cycle, union bosses are cashing in on their investment by demanding the swift passage of the anti-worker “card check” bill.

The Chamber of Commerce has produced an excellent video explaining “card check” and why it’s bad for the economy:

“Card check” is unnecessary, undemocratic, and unhelpful to the American worker.  It’s unnecessary because union membership has actually been rising the last two years; undemocratic because it strips workers of their right to a secret ballot; and unhelpful because it would place additional burdens on businesses at a time when the economy is in recession.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently studied the implications of “card check” legislation and concluded that:

Card check should be seen for what it is: an attempt to rebuild the private-sector union movement by making it dramatically easier for unions to organize American workers.  Adding card check to the already heavy burden of U.S. labor and employment law that companies face today will cost the U.S. economy additional jobs.  This is hardly a recipe for getting the country through the current economic crisis without substantial additional damage.

The AEI report also explains the dangers of an often overlooked provision of the “card check” legislation known as “mandatory arbitration”:

Read the rest of this entry »

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So-Called “Employee Free Choice Act” Would Eliminate Workers’ Secret Ballot

According to press reports, Blue Dog Democrats are calling for the Senate to take up the anti-worker “Employee Free Choice Act” - better known as “card check” - before the House, in order to avoid voting twice for an unpopular measure strongly backed by union bosses.  After spending $450 million to elect pro-union Democrats last year, unions are looking to cash in on their investment.

The aim of the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA) is to dramatically expand union membership through coercion and other questionable tactics by eliminating the secret ballot and replacing it with a system of “card checks.”  It would allow unions to intimidate workers by pressuring them to sign a card stating that they want to join a union.  Workers would never have the option of voting against union membership, and millions of workers could be forced into a union without even getting the chance to vote on the matter.

Any wonder that three out of four voters (74%) oppose the “The Employee Free Choice Act?”

Last Congress, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other Republicans fought to preserve the secret ballot for workers, stating that, “The secret ballot election is a cornerstone of our American democracy.”  Republicans will continue to insist that the right to a secret ballot should not be infringed upon.

Leader Boehner spoke out against “card check” nearly two years ago:

“Employees should be able to vote their conscience in a private ballot election, free from intimidation or fear of retribution,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.  “Members of Congress should not deny workers the freedom to choose.”The Chamber of Commerce stated in a press release that:

[The] EFCA would effectively eliminate the secret ballot election for union organizing and force workers to make the important decision about whether or not to unionize in front of union organizers.  It would invite intimidation and coercion; lead to widespread disenfranchisement of workers who may oppose unionization by cutting them out of the process; and limit an employer’s ability to counter false and misleading rhetoric.  EFCA also radically alters collective bargaining by allowing unions to end good faith negotiations and force employers into binding interest arbitration to set all the terms and conditions of a union contract, not just wages and benefits, but work rules, management rights clauses, and how union dues are collected.  Finally, EFCA imposes new penalties only on employer misconduct, not on union misconduct.

The National Restaurant Association is also vehemently opposed to “card check” legislation.  They list three reasons to oppose the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act”:

1.  A card-check process increases the risk of coercion.
2.  Private ballots are a basic American right.
3.  An employee’s decision to join a union should be made in private.

Even George McGovern - the 1972 Democratic nominee for president - opposes card check.

That should indicate just how far-left the “card check” bill is.  Americans should not be denied their right to a secret ballot to benefit union bosses.

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New Choice for Labor Secretary Supports Secret Ballots For Democrats, Opposes Them for Workers

According to press reports, President-Elect Barack Obama will name Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) as his choice for Labor Secretary later today.

As a member of Congress, Rep. Solis co-sponsored the highly-controversial Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that would end a worker’s right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to join a union.  She also voted for this anti-worker bill when Democrats passed it through the House on March 1, 2007.

However, Rep. Solis took a different tack on secret ballot elections when it came time for internal Democratic Caucus elections.  Specifically, she co-signed a letter criticizing the absence of secret ballots in electing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus leadership on January 5, 2007.  The letter explained:

“… votes by secret ballot were in order but never taken. We therefore believe that we need to follow proper rules of procedure and hold a vote by secret ballot.”

The letter continued:

“[I]t is important that the integrity of the [Congressional Hispanic Caucus] be unquestioned and above reproach.”

So Rep. Solis strongly supports secret ballot elections for Democrats, but opposes them for working Americans.  Ending secret ballots, as Democrats and their Big Labor allies have proposed, would leave workers vulnerable to coercion, pressure, and outright intimidation and threats – from either the management or the union side of the election.  And nearly 80 percent of Americans strongly oppose this bill.

That’s why Republicans are working to preserve the decades-old secret ballot election in the workplace – to prevent workers from being intimidated into doing something they don’t believe is in their best interests.  House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) recently said on Fox News Sunday that Republicans will do everything they can to stop the efforts of Democrats and Big Labor to kill the secret ballot, saying:

“This is, I think, an affront to the American people, and we will do everything we can to stop it.”

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Card-checkocracy

Today the Chicago Tribune takes a closer look at The Employee Free Choice Act:

Organized labor helped elect Barack Obama and now eagerly awaits his promised support for its top priority—a bill that would make it easier to set up union locals…

The so-called card-check bill would not protect workers and it would not be “free choice.” It would strip away their right to vote in secret, making it more likely they would face intimidation from organizers and other workers. The pressure would be on to check the card, whether or not they actually wanted a union.

It’s clear why union bosses want this law. Union membership ticked up last year, but it has been plunging for half a century….Union leaders prefer to blame the decline on federal labor laws, which they say make it too hard to organize. That’s a pretty flimsy argument. Present law allows the National Labor Relations Board to call for an election by secret ballot after 30 percent of employees at a work site have requested a vote. That’s hardly a high hurdle.

There are ways to recast the nation’s labor laws so workers’ interests are protected, without subjecting them to more intimidation by union organizers…In short, create more incentives for labor and management to negotiate in good faith and preserve the workers’ right to a secret ballot…

The inaptly named Employee Free Choice Act would be good for labor bosses. But it wouldn’t be good for laborers.

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Boehner: GOP Firmly Against ‘Card Check’

Featured in tomorrow’s Washington Times:

House Republican Leader John A. Boehner said Democrats’ use of secret ballots to chose its leadership was ironic because the party wants to nix workers’ rights to a secret voting in deciding whether to unionize.

“The secret ballot election is a cornerstone of our American democracy,” Mr. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said Thursday. “If it is good enough for House Democrats to rely on during today’s high-stakes vote, shouldn’t it be good enough for millions of American workers across America who value their workplace privacy?”

He vowed Republicans would stand firmly against the Democrat’s “card-check” legislation - dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act or EFCA. It would allow organizers to unionize a workplace by gathering enough singed cards rather than the current process of employees deciding by secret ballots…

…Enacting the card-check law is a top priority for organized labor and the unions are confident it will be passed by the Democrat-led Congress and signed by President-elect Barack Obama, a top AFL-CIO lobbyist told The Washington Times this week.

“I have no doubt it will pass and will be singed,” AFL-CIO government-affairs director William Samuel said in an exclusive interview.

Mr. Obama and House Democratic leaders supported the bill during House and Senate votes last year.  Critics of the card check process say it leaves workers vulnerable to coercion and intimidation from either the management or the union organizers.

Mr. Boehner highlighted House Democrats’ use of a secret ballot Wednesday in deciding a bitter showdown between two Democratic titans - Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California and Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan - over control of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

House Democratic Caucus voted 137 to 122 to install the fiercely liberal Mr. Waxman and outs Mr. Dingell, whose close ties to U.S. automakers and the utility industry had put him as odds with the environmental agenda of Democratic leaders, including Mrs. Pelosi.

Mr. Boehner noted that Rep. Louise Slaughter, New York Democrat, earlier in the week expressed relief her vote in the Dingell-Waxman conflict would not be public. “It’s a secret ballot, thank the Lord,” she told Congressional Quarterly.

“Killing secret ballot rights in the workplace may be a priority for the special interests that have placed Democrats in charge of Washington, but it is not in the best interest of workers or our democratic system,” Mr. Boehner said.

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