Posted by
Rural Anorak on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 10:54:15 AM
There are people who are trying to overturn a core principle in our form of democracy; that of the secret ballot. The "champions" who are attempting to overturn this are the unions. They are saying that the current method is unfair to the employees and does not allow them the "free choice" that they should be given. The employees have "free choice" and have had it since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act (as amended). Key to that is section 7 which reads (highlights are mine):
Sec. 7. [§ 157.] Employeesshall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 8(a)(3) [section 158(a)(3) of this title].
Looks to me that the law as it stands already has “free choice” embedded in its language. So why now is there such a push to grant “free choice” to employees? Well, in actuality, the purpose now is to take “free choice” away from employees. How so? Since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act (as amended), any employee or group of employees who wished to form a collective bargaining unit (union) did so by secret ballot among the rank and file (employees). This allowed each individual to vote by his or her conscience. Now the unions want to take this step out of the process and continue forward with have employees publicly sign an authorization form.
According to the website that is promoting this new “Employee Free Choice Act” it is presumed that any employee who does not sign the form does not support union representation. However, if this is done in the open, what is to say that employees who do favor representation will not seek retribution against those who do not sign?
With the secret ballot the process is longer, but in reality it is fairer to the employees and to the employer.