This is about Unions, and what goes with being a part of such things.
Sen. Bennet may be key vote on “Employee Free Choice Act”
Posted by: “libertarian17” RLCstatechapters@aol.com libertarian17
Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:24 am (PST)
Dear Friend,
Please write Senator Michael Bennet and ask him to oppose ‘The
Employee Free Choice Act‘.
Sen. Bennet may be the key vote we need to stop this anti-worker
forced unionism power grab. You can contact him at
http://bennet. senate.gov/ public/ .
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George Leaf explains the situation:
“For the last several years, Big Labor has suffered net losses in dues
payers. In an effort to remedy that decline, union officials and their
political allies put on a full-court press in favor of a bill called
the “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA).
The secret-ballot elections under the NLRA at least have the virtue of
shielding individual workers from reprisals for going “the wrong way.”
Union officials have found what they regard as a better method of
determining whether a majority want their services.
It’s called the “card check” system. If a majority of workers sign a
card saying that they want a union to represent them, then that should
suffice for the NLRB to declare the union to be the exclusive
bargaining representative, without resort to an election. Naturally,
it’s easier for union organizers to get signatures on cards – using
tactics that can include misrepresentation and harassment – than to
get workers to vote for them in an election after the airing of
arguments for and against the union.
Under the NLRA, however, employers have the right to insist on a
secret-ballot election no matter how many cards might be signed. The
Employee Free Choice Act would take that away and require the NLRB to
certify unions simply on the basis of signed cards.
Furthermore, the EFCA would ratchet up the coercion regarding contract
negotiations. The current law is bad enough in compelling “good faith”
bargaining, but the proposed new law would allow government officials
to arbitrate the terms of the initial union contract. That is to say,
if management and the union can’t arrive at a mutually agreeable labor
contract, the federal government will impose one. That additional
dollop of federal coercion is said by supporters to be necessary to
effectuate the workers’ “right to bargain.” In a free society, though,
there is no “right to bargain” with people who don’t want to bargain
with you, and a fortiori there is no right to have the government
dictate the terms of that “bargaining. ”
Union officials were licking their chops at the prospect of using the
EFCA to dragoon thousands of new workers into their ranks, but the
bill has died in Congress. It will be resurrected in the future and we
will again hear supporters making claims of why we need its new
coercive features. We will also hear opponents arguing that we should
stick with the good old status quo. What I think we really need is a
discussion about the proper approach to labor law in a free society.”
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Contact ALL of your representatives today!
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