Save our Secret Ballot

By Joe Eaton

Soon the U.S. Congress will try again to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
With Democratic majorities in both house and President Obama on record as
supporting this legislation, chances of success are high. I object to this
legislation for two reasons.


First, sponsors and supporters of this bill tout that it will take away the
"advantage" corporations have over union organizers. I have first-hand
knowledge of this process. I worked for 33 years in manufacturing, 26 of
those in a union environment and 7 in a union-free environment. I have
participated on negotiating teams for bargaining agreements. As plant
manager of the Trane plant in Lynn Haven, I represented the interest of the
company in a union-organizing attempt.

Under current federal law concerning union elections, once a union gets 30%
of the work force to sign a card saying they want a union, the NLRB,
National Labor Relations Board, calls for an election. Workers vote using
secret ballots, and if more than 50% vote yes, the union wins and is
authorized as the bargaining unit for the workers.

During this organization campaign, federal law places strict limitations on
the company and its management, which cannot comment or take any action to
spy, promise, interrogate, or threaten employees. Union organizers and
sympathetic workers watch this very closely and are happy to report any
violation to the NLRB. If the NLRB determines a violation has occurred, the
penalty to the company is severe. A federal judge can even award the union
a victory because of a violation--without an election. Needless to say, the
entire management team has to be extremely careful in what it does or says.

Do the same rules apply to the union organizers? No. They can promise huge
raises, twist arms, visit employees in their homes, have co-workers put peer
pressure on them, and even make misleading statements about what signing a
card means. During our campaign in Lynn Haven, many employees came forward
to complain of threats made to them by union organizers. If anyone tells
you that the company has the advantage during a campaign, be sure to ask
them how so. See if what they tell you complies with the rules spelled out
by federal laws in place today. I have read comments by several congressmen
supporting this legislation. They are either not familiar with the law, or
they are flat out lying.

Second, the sponsors of the bill have given it a misleading name. They call
it the Employee Free Choice Act, but in effect it does just the opposite.
It takes away the secret ballot vote. The secret ballot vote is a
time-honored tradition in democratic societies, put in place for the
specific purpose of avoiding intimidation. Those who want to take away the
secret ballot must, by default, want to use intimidation to achieve their
ends. Otherwise, why do away with it? I am suspicious of this legislation
precisely because its sponsors have to use a nice sounding title to hide its
true intent. Pretty disgusting.

This bill's sponsors are confident that they can get away with this
diabolical scheme because they know their voters. As for me, I won't
support a politician, nor his deceitful legislation, who thinks so little of
me.