secret ballot elections

Laugh Test: Naive Hollywood Actors Shill for Big Labor's "Card Check" Scheme

Nick Cote — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:34:39 -0400

Recently, former West Wing actors Martin Sheen and Bradley Whitford lobbied in favor of the woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (better known as the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill) at a press conference with so-called American Rights at Work, the same militant lobbying group which Labor Secretary Hilda Solis played a formal role while a member of Congress.

CNS News asked the actors why they support a bill which would effectively eliminate the secret ballot in workplace unionization drives. Whitford responded (emphasis mine),

The notion that the labor movement is out to abolish their own members’ rights to a secret ballot just doesn’t pass the laugh test. And people who are propagating the rumor that it does, their sudden compassion for worker’s rights is just not believable.

read more

Analysis: Exactly How the Card Check Bill Eliminates the Secret Ballot

Nick Cote — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:43:11 -0400

In the debate over the grossly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (more accurately called the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill), union bosses have gone out of their way to convince the media that the bill does not eliminate the secret ballot in workplace unionization drives.

But legal experts here at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation have examined the bill and the state of the current law and come to the following conclusion:

Under the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill, the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) that refer to the secret ballot election would be rendered a dead letter, even though they are not technically stricken from federal law.

Quick Hits -- June 1, 2008

Will Collins — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:25:14 -0400

A few Right to Work-related updates from over the weekend:

IAM Union's Sham Elections: Kim Jong-il Would Be Proud

Will Collins — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:26:24 -0400

The International Association of Machinists (IAM) has a long and troubled relationship with true workplace representation. In fact, the union bosses' authoritarian nature of governance more closely resembles communist North Korea.

Section B-2 of the IAM's "Official Circular No. 813 - Strike Sanctions and Benefits" (pdf) lays out the organization's procedures for accepting a renegotiated contract or rejecting a new offer from management and going on strike:

". . . a secret ballot vote by the membership present and voting must carry by a two-thirds (2/3) majority in order to declare a strike."

read more

Stars and Stripes Forever?

Justin Hakes — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:48:40 -0500

The American flag will now fly at election sites where employees vote over whether or not to unionize, according to a recent announcement by the National Labor Relations Board. How ironic, considering that union officials are pressing to eliminate secret ballots over whether to unionize in favor of the coercive "card check" process, where employees are often pressured individually.

Unfortunately, the secret ballot election process is not without fault either. If 1,000 employees vote overall, and 501 vote to unionize, the other 499 must accept unwanted union "representation" over their wages and working conditions, and in 28 states pay dues or be fired. Such tyranny of the majority has no place over such fundamental choices as the Right to Work in a country that prides itself on individual freedom to choose.