thetruthaboutefca.com | The Truth About The Employee Free Choice Act & Card Check

Since we all know that government creates jobs politicians in Washington D.C. are seeking a “legislation solution” for rising unemployment by the end of the year, according to a report in The Hill.

Now, this should mean a permanent benching of the job-killing, democracy-restricting, crazily-named Employee Free Choice Act. Research shows it will lead to massive job loss.

But hope does not always spring eternal:

The House change began Monday night when leaders scheduled AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect, to address the House Democratic Caucus.

Mr. Trumka’s presence indicates we are likely to hear about some sort of mysterious job benefits to be had by a bill that forces government arbitrators on small business and removes the secret ballot from the employee.

Let the spinning begin!

BigGovernment.com has more on the biggest black eye for proponents of the tragically misnamed Employee Free Choice Act — the Service Employees International Union

Several good items have hit our in-box recently that we thought best to pass along. In the Houston Chronicle, it’s “Goodies for labor tucked away in health bill.” Meanwhile, the Heritage Foundations says “Big Labor Is Bankrupting Our Country.”

Perhaps even more interesting, though, is the note from New York Times’ Ross Douhat on the importance jobs will play as a political issue in 2010. Writing of Democrats, Douhat argues:

It

“Employer” sounds too nice, but you can’t complain about “anti-union” CEOs or companies. Those are among the lessons from a document carrying the letterhead of the Service Employees International Union and its trade association, Change for Working Families.

It’s a how-to guide for avoiding the real point of the Employee Free Choice Act and card check … wait, strike that. SEIU’s minions are told not to use the term “card check” (it’s toxic, after all).

Instead, they are instructed to use the old gem “majority sign-up.” And don’t dare mention the secret ballot or private ballot system that currently protects employees — try to bend facts (or avoid them) to describe a “company-dominated system.” And for goodness sake, don’t say “Our union or labor is behind this bill” … that would be too honest! Blame it on “workers” or “working people. Likewise, don’t say EFCA is about making it “easier for unions to organize workers.”

All this may not be surprising, but the extent to which SEIU wants to avoid discussing the union role in EFCA is remarkable. The flyer instructs spokespeople not to discuss the “process or conflict” of organizing and avoid the normal “tone that sounds angry, demagogues CEOs, or over-generalizes about business.” Instead, there’s suggested obfuscatory claptrap.

The document is likely a reflection of organized labor’s plummeting popularity with Americans. See a collection of public opinion polls here. We’re tempted to make a reference to Orwell, but he’s not the one spinning here — that’s SEIU.

The Service Employees International Union is becoming Big Labor’s biggest pain in the neck as union bosses seek to pass the sneakily misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.

The latest comes from the Wall Street Journal, which reports that a rival union is accusing SEIU of intimidating workers and changing ballots in an election.

The NUHW filed charges Nov. 6 with the California Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees the election. Included in the charges are statements from a former SEIU organizer, who said that he was encouraged “to pressure voters to change the ballot” and that on one occasion he himself changed a vote to SEIU’s favor.

The charges also contain statements from workers who said SEIU representatives came to their house as many as five times a day, pressuring them to vote for the SEIU. In one instance, a woman said she was questioned about her legal status. Others were told they would lose wages and benefits if they voted for the NUHW.

SEIU, for its part, denies the allegations, but the case certainly recalls concerns that employers and labor reformers have long harbored about “card check” and the Employee Free Choice Act because they would strip away the protection of the secret ballot. Now it looks like even that is under attack, once again, by SEIU.

Don’t forget the long list of recent allegations against SEIU that directly relate to the fight over card check: accused of intimidation, threatening employers, muscling other unions and their own members, and making demonstrably false claims about EFCA, just to name a few. See more here.

Employers are rotten, scurrilous, no-good-niks bent on nothing but ruining the lives of working Americans, right? That’s what you’d believe if you had no experience running a business or you spent too much time reading websites like “Workday Minnesota.”

For Big Labor’s biggest allies, the “solution” for this ostensible problem is the Employee Free Choice Act, which would increase union density by decreasing employer speech and employee rights (in the form of their diminished access to a real, private vote on whether to join the union and, later, the potential to have a government-imposed contract).

But how does one square that world view with the Workday Minnesota statement that card check “can be an advantage to employers as well as workers”?

Consider the logical equation. If (A) Employers are bad and want to harm employees and (B) card check is good because it diminishes employer power then how can it be true that (C) card check can be good for employers?

Well, there have certainly been stories of employers who felt threatened into accepting card check rather than an election, so maybe that’s what Workday Minnesota means. Or, maybe it can be an advantage if you become unionized and then try to rig the rules so that your competitors face the same issue, as in the case explained by this fantastic video from Reason.tv:

All in all, we are for employers and employees finding the fit that’s right for them, but we are firmly against a forcible policy that diminishes workplace flexibility and drives up costs will end up hurting everyone.