Free Republic

The Obama administration's budget is full of proposals that threaten to weaken our staggering economy. Higher taxes on high earners and reduced deductions for their charitable contributions and mortgage interests. A cap-and-trade system that will impose higher costs on everyone who uses electricity. A national health insurance program that will take $600 billion or so out of the private-sector economy. But the most grievous threat to future prosperity may be off-budget -- the inaptly named Employee Free Choice Act. Also known as card check, the legislation would effectively abolish secret ballots in unionization elections. It provides that once a majority...

The Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would allow unions to organize worksites without secret-ballot elections, was introduced in Congress last week. And this week, we saw how far Big Labor will go to pass it. On Tuesday the Service Employees International Union posted a YouTube video about the horrific death of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, man who fell into an industrial-sized clothes dryer while clearing a jam of wet laundry. The accident occurred at a plant operated by Cintas Corp., a large uniform supplier. The implication is that the accident never would have occurred if the worksite had been...

Organized labor's highest legislative priority, the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), is harmful to both American workers and businesses. The bill has two key components: 1) Eliminates Secret Ballot for “Card Check” The bill replaces secret ballot union organizing elections with "card check," a process where union organizers publicly solicit workers' signed union authorization cards. If a majority of a company's workers sign cards, they all automatically join the union, without an election. Union activists privately acknowledge that workers often sign union cards because of peer pressure or harassment and that publicly signed cards do not reflect workers' true...

Labor: In the same week legislation that would kill the secret ballot used to form a union is introduced, a poll finds fewer than one in 10 non-union workers wants to join a union. No wonder coercion is necessary.The bill is called the Employee Free Choice Act. But instead of liberating workers, it would enslave them to unions. Under current law, a work force is organized when a simple majority of workers, voting with secret ballots, approves of unionization. The Employee Free Choice Act, more appropriately called the card check bill, turns that honorable practice on its head. If it...

While the fight over pro-union card check legislation rages on in Congress, a second front has opened up in the battle: the states.Critics of card check are trying to get states to amend their constitutions to require secret ballots in union organizing. They've already managed to get one state, Utah, to put the proposed changes on the ballot in the 2010 election.In most cases, card check would make union organizing easier by using what amounts to a simple petition drive to replace a federally overseen secret ballot by workers asking whether they want to join a union. Fans of the...

Coming to a country near you: Labor contracts dictated by federal arbitrators who know little about the businesses they will be regulating by their decisions, and the advent of near universal unionization. The country near you is your country — yes, the United States of America. If high corporate taxes, increased dividend taxes, increased capital gains taxes, the anti-energy carbon tax and metastasizing regulation won’t kill American business, entrepreneurship, and innovation, this will: the wildly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) backed by President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, now the far left party. EFCA is the top priority...

I think by now, a lot of Americans have heard about the proposed change by the labor unions and the Democrats to eliminate secret balloting when a company's employees decide to unionize. This change in the collective bargaining laws is called the "Employee Free Choice Act" or EFCA. It is also more commonly known as "Card Check". (See Wikipedia's Coverage of this topic) No matter what you call it, those who object to it are usually against it because it abandons the democratic process of voting in secret. It is this process of secret balloting that has, for decades now,...

The labor policies of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party controlled Congress are being praised in certain quarters. Some see this praise as an indication of the Democrats’ true agenda. The appointment of Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary was noted with accolades on the Web site of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). A story written yesterday by Joelle Fishman, chair, Political Action Committee, CPUSA, said, “The appointment of Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor with an overwhelming vote despite right-wing opposition, is a great victory to celebrate this International Women’s Day. It is no wonder that Hilda Solis, born...

Barack Obama bought and paid for these banks. They better get in line behind his plan to abolish the secret ballot in unionization elections. That’s Rachel Maddow’s position. The MSNBC host is furious that banks taking bail-out funds have the audacity to do what they think is in the best interest of their businesses, instead of supporting the president’s scheme to do away with what most Americans consider a sacred element of democracy: the secret ballot. Apparently Citi and Bank of America have hosted conference calls in which opposition was expressed to the Obama-backed, Orwellian-named, Employee Free Choice Act, which...

Tuesday, March 11, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was reintroduced into both houses of Congress. This is an important step forward for the country. Senate bill S. 560 and House bill H.R. 1409, if passed, would help working Americans improve their wages and working conditions by making it easier to join a union if they choose, and passage would also be huge step out of the current economic crisis the country is in. Also, EFCA—and a stronger trade union movement generally—is key to building a bigger, more united progressive movement that can address all the issues of civil rights,...

"We feel the secret ballot is allowed for but not required by Mexican laobor law. However we feel that the secret ballot is absolutly necessary in order to ensure that workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they might not otherwise choose". That was the message submitted to the Mexican government the sponsors of the so called "Employer Free Choice Act which would eliminate the secret ballot in US union organizing. The document was signed by congress members;California's; Miller, Baca, Filner,Lee ,Lofgren ,Stark ; Massachusetts; Barney Frank, James McGovern , and Ohio's ;Kucinich, Kaptur. All sponsors of the...

Making sense of the central political objective of organized labor.Whether the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)—known as “card check”—is introduced in the next hour or next year, it remains the central political objective of organized labor. It was also championed as a domestic priority by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats during the 2008 campaign. The EFCA would undercut the idea of a secret ballot in unionization drives and guarantee mandatory arbitration of many initial collective bargaining agreements. Canada’s experience with card check illustrates how it could further hobble the U.S. economy.

Look, if you want to have the secret ballot in elections for President of the United States, that’s OK. I mean, what does a president decide, after all? But a unionization election? Now there’s something really important. It’s better to do away with the secret ballot there. That in essence was the argument of a union official in favor of permitting secret ballots to be denied in unionization elections, as would potentially be the case under the Orwellian-named “Employee Free Choice Act” introduced in Congress today. Stephen Lerner of the SEIU was the official in question. He made his argument...

Barack Obama provides a study in contrasts. He is personally measured, but his agenda is radical. Although his top personnel are largely centrist, his objectives are standard leftist issue. If his program succeeds, the U.S. will look a lot more like Europe, with far more of life controlled by the central government. Rather like American Uncle Sam meets French Sun King. One of the most important goals of the Obama program is to strengthen labor unions. Explained the president: "I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem. To me, it's part of the solution." Of course...

Obama supporter, campaign economic adviser and super-rich guy Warren Buffett says he is against 'card-check'; "Let's make it a perfectly flat statement" Buffet said on CNBC this morning. Just last week at a posh hotel in Miami Florida both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden told the AFL-CIO that they were behind the 'card-check' bill, known officially as the Employee Free Choice Act. In July of last year, Obama touted Buffett as one of his "core economic advisors" in an interview with Tom Brokaw on NBC's Meet the Press. Card-check is legislation that makes it easier for employers...

He just said it live on CNBC...deflected it before but Joe Kernen asked again...Warren Buffett "I'm against card check" Here is posting from CNBC blog: 8:33a: Buffett says union elections should continue to be by secret ballot. He is opposed to the "card check" proposal for worker votes on joining unions.

Let your voice be heard today to protect this precious right In office less than 40 days, President Obama is already working to strip American workers of their right to vote by secret ballot in union elections. Under a bill being proposed by President Obama, secret ballots are tossed aside and workers are forced to vote in front of intimidating union officials. The bill being pushed by President Obama is deceptively named the "Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)."

Recent articles surrounding the Employee Free Choice Act have focused on it's likelyhood of passing the Senate. A statement by the AFL-CIO legislative director Bill Sammuel to reporters claims that the unions think they have the votes needed to pass card check. However, I disagree. Now, I am assuming everyone knows what "card check" and the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is. If not, click here. Ok, now that you are informed, let's walk through the numbers. It is expected that EFCA will be introduced in the House and Senate on Monday. Ok. We all knew that it was going...

(CNSNews.com) – When Vice President Joe Biden speaks to the annual meeting of AFL-CIO officials at the plush Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach Thursday morning, television cameras will not be allowed to cover his speech – on orders from the White House, Fox News reported. The Fontainebleau, which recently had a billion-dollar makeover, describes itself as “a spectacular blend of Miami’s glamorous golden era and stylish modern luxury." It has 1,504 rooms and suites, 22 oceanfront acres, 11 restaurants and nightclubs including three signature name chef restaurants, a 40,000-square-foot spa, and a "sophisticated poolscape" with private cabanas. The AFL-CIO Executive...

President Barack Obama is in the second month of his administration and Congress still hasn’t passed the Employee Free Choice Act – aka Card Check – to abolish the secret ballot in workplace employee representation elections. So, the Big Labor bosses who spent more than $300 million in 2008 to get the best Democratic president and Congress that dues money can buy are getting antsy. Yesterday Obama offered an AFL-CIO gathering a video message reassuring them that “we will pass the Employee Free Choice Act.” Note that Obama conspicuously said nothing about when he expects Card Check to become law....