March 5, 2007

You Want to Join the Union, Don’t You?

Did you know that voting via secret ballot violates your free choice?

Neither did I, but apparently free choice is only worth protecting if you intend to make the choice that union organizers want you to make. Congressional Democrats have embarked upon a fruitless but instructive quest to subject American workers to intimidation – all in the name of ending intimidation, of course.

Since 1947, the National Labor Relations Act has allowed for a secret ballot when employees are in the midst of a union organizing effort. The provision is designed to protect employees against intimidation from either side – management or union bosses. And secret ballots are a quintessential democratic tradition. You vote as you wish, with no reprisals.

But with union membership down to 12 percent of the entire work force – and only 7.5 percent of the private sector workforce – union bosses want something done. Bring back reprisals! But only the kind they like.

In a near party-line vote, Democrats in the House passed a bill that would eliminate the right to a secret ballot in a union organizing effort. Union organizers would simply have to persuade a majority of workers in a given shop to sign union organizing cards, and presto! The union is certified.

California Democrat George Miller lauded the bill as if it were the salvation of America’s blue collar workforce, declaring triumphantly that with this bill, “If a majority of workers say they want a union, they get a union!”

Actually, if they sign a card someone pre-wrote for them saying they want a union, they get a union foisted upon them. The history of union organizing is replete with intimidation. To be sure, some employers have been just as intimidating in their efforts to keep unions out. That’s why the law provides for secret ballots.

Yet in this go-round, it is only the unions who are objecting to secret ballots. They claim that in the run-up to union organizing elections, companies are intimidating workers by giving them what is termed as anti-union propaganda. In other words, the other side of the story.

Hmm. What could the companies be telling them? Maybe they’re telling them about the obscene percentage of union dues that go to support political candidates and causes that may not be favored by a given employee. That’s instead of union dues going to support the workers.

Maybe they’re telling them about how union-saturated industries, particularly the automotive industry, are collapsing under the costs incurred as a result of management decisions to buy labor peace over the course of many years.

Maybe they explain the archaic work rules imposed under union contracts, knowing that such rules are not going to be appealing to a self-motivated individual who is serious about excellent performance.

If the unions are serious in making this argument, they are actually admitting that they can’t win a campaign. If both parties have a chance to make their case, management usually wins, which is why union membership continues to drop.

If, on the other hand, they simply want to be able to lean on people a little harder to sign those cards – and these blasted secret ballots make it so hard to put the muscle to a guy, you know? – it takes some chutzpah for them to claim they seek this because they are concerned about intimidation.

Fortunately, workers’ right to their own free choice on union organizing matters is not in immediate danger. In the unlikely event the bill ever comes out of the Senate, President Bush will veto it. There are not enough votes in favor to override the veto.

But House and Senate Democrats have left no doubt who runs the show. They still rely heavily on unions for financial support, and unions need more members paying compulsory dues if they are going to continue to fund Democrats. A growing number of American workers don’t want to pay compulsory dues to unions, so it only makes sense that their free choice not to join unions needs to be taken away.

Democrats must really be feeling their oats to actually try this in such shameless fashion. Their mid-term election win has them on top of the world. But it’s easy to be popular when you have no power. It’s been awhile since Americans saw what Democrats actually do with power. We’ll see how Americans react to reminders like this one.

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