FreedomWorks

The Issue

Senator Ted Kennedy (D –Mass.) is pushing the “Employee Free Choice Act,” which will actually reduce workplace fairness and democracy. The cornerstone of this bill is the “Card Check” provision. Under current law, employees vote by secret ballot in a government monitored election to decide if they would like to join a union. This process of debate and vote is, however, unacceptable to union bosses who often lose in a fair workplace election. They want to be able to demand that workers make a public decision in front of a union organizer-- literally, "checking a card" instead of having the right to a private vote.

The FreedomWorks Position

Card Check is a top down system which does away with secret ballots. Employers would be forced to recognize a union without an election with just over 50 percent of workers checking "yes." Card Check removes privacy protections for employees. It opens the workplace to intimidation and corruption, and to say the least, is a violation of the American principle of a secret ballot. It is the last gasp of dinosaur unions that are seeing their power and relevance disappear in the information age.