Mark Warner (VA), Tom Udall(NM) and Others Pledge Support for Card Check (Employee Free Choice ACT)

http://blog.aflcio.org ^ | September 14, 2008 | Seth Michaels

[Maelstorm]

Candidates in Key Races Pledge to Support Employee Free Choice

[1]

Kay Barnes

[2]

Rep. Tom Udall

Yes, Virginia (and Ohio and Colorado…), it’s true: The battle for the White House isn’t the only election this fall. Every U.S. House seat and 33 Senate seats are up for election, and ensuring a pro-working family Congress will require a strong national effort.

 

Many candidates around the country understand the importance of passing legislation that levels the playing field for workers seeking to form unions. Kay Barnes (D-Mo.) and Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are both candidates endorsed by the AFL-CIO who believe strongly in the freedom to form unions and pledge to support pro-worker legislation like the [3] Employee Free Choice Act. These candidates (see videos) understand that the [4] Employee Free Choice Act will help restore economic fairness by allowing workers to form unions and bargain.

 

They know the AFL-CIO will carry out an unprecedented mobilization to support pro-working family candidates. Union member-to-member contact is crucial to winning elections and creating a strong pro-worker majority. The [5] Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform and economic relief for millions of working families are only possible when working men and women get involved.

 

In [6] Michigan, state Sen. [7] Mark Schauer is running for the House in the state’s 7th District, while former state Sen. [8] Gary Peters is running for the 9th District House seat. In [9] Missouri, [10] Barnes, the mayor of Kansas City, is running for House in the 6th District. Endorsed candidates in [11] New Mexico include [12] Udall, running for  Senate, and [13] Ben Ray Lujan, running to succeed Udall in the 3rd District House seat. And in [14] Virginia, former Gov. [15] Mark Warner is running for the open Senate seat.

 

Here’s what Peters had to say about the [16] Employee Free Choice Act:

This election coming up in November is really about the middle class. Our incomes are stagnant while prices continue to go up…one of the main reasons you see the decline of the middle class in this country is that the labor movement itself has been under attack. It’s very difficult for labor unions to get new members, because laws are in place that make it difficult for workers to get together and organize. We need to change that. That why I support the Employee Free Choice Act.

   Warner credits the union movement with electing him governor of Virginia in 2001 and says the energy and         

    enthusiasm of union volunteers and voters will create great opportunities to pass legislation that will help

    working families.

 

We are going to do great things come January 2009, in terms of getting this country back on the right path and making sure that working families have the right to organize in a way that’s free and fair.

All of these states are important battlegrounds in the fight for a pro-working family Congress and president this fall. Through union member-to-member contact, the AFL-CIO and our union affiliates will mobilize millions of workers, retirees and their families to get to the polls and elect candidates who will help turn around America.

[Maelstorm]

Card Check is a horrible and would get rid of secret balloting in unionizing placing workers at risk of intimidation and bullying.

---

Help support Jim Gilmore(VA) and Steve Pearce (NM), Proven Conservatives!

Principled - Mark Warner and His Lies

Gilmore Slams Mark Warner for Opposing Drilling!

He served in the military, cut taxes, reduced the rate of growth of state government, defended the unborn
and most importantly kept his promises.

http://www.jimgilmoreforsenate.com

Steve Pearce fights Democrat *Hoax* Drill bill
Representative Pearce who is running for the Senate points out that Democrat
energy bill would actually erect more barriers to drilling and illustrates the
liberal environmental activists who are funding Democrats in efforts to stop
drilling and domestic energy production.

Help Steve defeat liberal Tom Udall

http://www.peopleforpearce.com/

[Rudder]

Employee Free Choice Act

A simple summary of what this actually is would have been helpful, instead of a morass of interrupting links.

[xcamel]

‘cardcheck’ violates every principle of secret ballot and democracy.

[FredZarguna]

The Employee Free Choice Act is one of those Orwellian phrases the Left loves so much. Employee Free Choice means: in labor union certification or decertification elections, there will no longer be a secret ballot, and workers who oppose belonging to a union can be singled out for harassment, threats, intimidation and physical violence.

[KarlInOhio]

Neal Boortz Nealz Nuze 9/9/2008 and Newsvine: Democrat Hypocrisy Once Again

This letter was written on August 29, 2001 to the government of Puebla, Mexico as they were considering making union votes public and not private affairs. It states:

As members of Congress of the United States who are deeply concerned with international labor standards and the role of labor rights in international trade agreements, we are writing to encourage you to use the secret ballot in all union recognition elections.

We understand that the secret ballot is allowed for, but not required, by Mexican labor law. However, we feel that the secret ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they might not otherwise choose.

We respect Mexico as an important neighbor and trading partner, and we feel that the increased use of the secret ballot in union recognition elections will help bring real democracy to the Meixcan workplace.

signed: George Miller, Bernard Sanders, Lane Evans, Martin Olav Sabo, Joe Baca, Dennis J. Kucinich, Fortney Pete Stark, James P. McGovern, Marcy Kaptur, William J. Coyne, Bob Filner, Barney Frank, Zoe Lofgren, Calvin M. Dooley, Barbara Lee, Lloyd Doggett

I guess secret ballots are good enough to protect the rights of Mexican workers from union abuse, but American workers don't deserve them.

[Rudder]

cardcheck’ violates every principle of secret ballot and democracy.

Thanks for the...clarification.

[Rudder]

...there will no longer be a secret ballot...

Free choice: vote for the union or have your tires slashed---your choice.

[VOA]

‘cardcheck’ violates every principle of secret ballot and democracy.

From what I've heard/read that is TRUE.

And my father was a member of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers
union...that made a decent attempt to be a "guild", not an aggregation
of thugs that made threats of violence against non-union workers.

This current legislation is an attempt to help union chiefs
to CLEARLY identify the workers that need to be THREATENED with
PHYSICAL (lethal) VIOLENCE if they don't go with the union.

Or simply quit their job.

This initiative means that Jimmy Hoffa and Walter Reuther (and
his brother) are smiling.
Whether that's in Hell, Heaven or somewhere else...
I'll leave to the theologians.

[Hostage]

Card check? what card? When? For voting on what?

This is why it is confusing to folks that don’t understand the issue of cardcheck. For example, Photo ID to vote in elections is pushed by conservatives. So what is the context of cardcheck?

[FredZarguna]

This pertains to voting in union certification and decertification elections.

When a number of people in a roughly defined bargaining unit in a workplace decide they want to form a bargaining unit, they go to a labor union, and get cards for their coworkers to sign. Most unions want at least 50% of the people in the prospective bargaining unit to sign so they can be sure that a preliminary count shows it's likely they'll win the election -- but there is no percentage required. The cards aren't binding on anyone, and signing a card doesn't obligate you to vote for the union in the secret ballot election. When the union decides they have a clearly defined bargaining unit and adequate support, they notify the National Labor Relations Board and the employer, and, after an informational period during which time both the union and the employer are constrained in what they're allowed to say to the employees, an election on whether the union can represent workers is held by secret ballot.

This has been the state of the law since 1947 when the NRLA (The Wagner Act passed in 1935) was amended by the Taft-Hartley Act.

In a nutshell:
Unions want to return to the New Deal Era when, under The Wagner Act, they were allowed to certify themselves for representation by the card signing process alone.

You see the problem? People from your workplace can intimidate you on the job if you don't want to sign up. That's bad enough. But worse is the fact that in order to protect themselves most in-shop organizers working with union reps don't do card sign-up on the job. So, potentially you can be harassed in your own home, after hours by co-workers and union organizers who are protected by law. You can't stop them from soliciting you until you sign-up, unless they violate some law. And since they know who and who has not signed up for the union, you will become a pariah at work if you're in a bargaining unit that wants to become unionized and you don't join.

"Card Check" needs to be exposed as the antidemocratic program it is, and this is a question the candidates need to be asked about in the debates: "Do you or do you not support a secret ballot for union certification?" There's a decent reference, here: http://library.findlaw.com/2006/May/1/241516.html

[CharlesWayneCT]

I’ll explain it.

When a union wants to organize, they start with union cards, where employees can say they want a union. If enough “check” the cards, then the union gets a vote.

With the “card-check” legislation, if a majority check the cards, no vote is necessary, and the union is established.

The cards are handed out publicly, and collected publicly. They are kept by the union.

In addition to the obvious notion that the union can send thugs to people’s houses to force them to check the cards, or simple fraud, there is no way for an employee to REVERSE their check, so all that is necessary is to keep them on file and eventually you can intimidate a majority.

Or worse, the union could actually force out workers who oppose them, and push hiring for only those people who will check the card.

It is essential that this legislation be stopped. Otherwise millions of workers will be forced into unions they do not want.

[Hostage]

Thank you.

Sounds awful.

[Navy Patriot]

So what is the context of cardcheck?

Cardcheck replaces secret ballot voting.

The procedure is as follows 5 to 10 230 pound union organizers surround a worker and "ask" him to sign a card voting FOR a union shop and union representation. If he is against it, he can so signify by NOT signing the card.

When the organizers get 50% plus one of the employees to sign cards, ALL MUST join the union or lose their jobs.

[HokieMom]

BTTT

[Islander7]

MISSISSIPPI PING!



Select Your State

Listen to a message by liberal Democrat George McGovern opposing this Draconian bill.

FReepers, please ping all states. Let them hear from you.

[Islander7]

BTTT

[dixiechick2000]

I don’t think it will pass.

It’s too intrusive.

Thank you for the ping!

[Marathoner]

This thing is such a steaming pile that George McGovern, of all people, has made a commercial opposing it.