Employee Free Choice Act: Specter Says No

In a surprise move, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced that he would not back the Employee Free Choice Act.

With a doublespeak name straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, the Employee Free Choice Act grants unions the right to intimidate and threaten employees into supporting unionization. The act, supported by Big Labor (you know, like the Teamsters, and the $73/hour United Auto Workers who helped kill Detroit), would allow unions to skip the currently-required secret ballot election when trying to unionize a shop. Instead, they would only need to collect signatures on cards from more than half of the employees.

Imagine working in a non-union business, with an employer you like.

The union people come around, and a fair number of your co-workers are interested. Soon, they’re signing their cards, and bringing them to you to sign, too. But you don’t want to.

“Why not?” “Come on, sign!” “It’s only 2% of your salary per month for dues, it’s not expensive!” “What’s wrong with you, do you like management better than us, your co-workers?”

Then comes peer pressure, threats, and intimidation.

“Once the union is in place, we’ll remember who supported us and who didn’t. Which list do you want to be on?” “I’ll stop by your house after work and bring the card so you can sign.”

American elections are also based on secret ballots. Would you vote to give up that right, so community organizers could come to your home and pressure you to vote for their candidate? Of course not! So why should employees be subject to union intimidation and lose their existing right to a secret ballot?

The Employee Free Choice Act is no choice at all. Kudos to Senator Specter for showing some backbone . . . if only this once.

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Jenny Donati is webmistress and co-editor of Secular News Daily. Jenny is an outspoken secularist who believes firmly in the separation of church and state. She demands evidence to support arguments, and holds herself to the same standard. She doesn't write about herself in the third person . . . but there's a first time for everything.

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