Editorial: A Step Backward

The Worcester Telegram - One of the worst ideas in U.S. labor history continues to percolate on Capitol Hill, and could come to the fore soon after President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act would take away workers’ right to vote for or against unionization by secret ballot — replacing the elections with a card-check system that would open workers to intimidation and harassment and whereby a union could install itself as the designated bargaining unit with as little as 30 percent support.

The Senate killed the measure last year, but given that Mr. Obama was a co-sponsor, Big Labor has every reason to push for its enactment once he takes office.

American workers have enjoyed the right to secret ballots in union elections since the 1930s, and poll after poll show that rank-and-file workers overwhelmingly support that right. Contrary to union claims, harassment of workers by management is extremely rare. In 2005, for example, the National Labor Relations Board found evidence of illegal firings in just 2.7 percent of union campaigns — largely due, no doubt, to the fact that workers had the protection of the secret ballot.

Asking workers to publicly sign a card in view of union organizers and employers erodes a fundamental element of democracy in the workplace. That would be a step backward the president and Congress should not allow.

On the Web:  http://www.telegram.com/article/20081123/NEWS/811230350/1020