President's Message May 2008

email Doug May 2008

An Offer We Should Refuse: Card Check

Last year, the Illinois General Assembly considered and approved a Senate Joint Resolution to urge passage of the “Employee Free Choice Act” in the US Congress. This misnamed proposal eliminates the practice of a secret ballot election in favor of a card-check system. Right now, employees determine whether they want a union to represent them or not in a private ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB process allows workers to vote privately without pressure from any party.

Card check creates an opportunity intimidation by both unions and employers, as well as for vote-buying and publishing each worker’s vote, practices that contradict our national practices for secret ballot voting. No one, employers, workers or union organizers, should fear an election conducted by private ballot. It is the only manner in which to protect an individual’s freedom to choose without subtle or overt coercion.

Even though card check is not on the docket in Illinois or in the US Congress right now, labor unions will raise the profile of the issue on the national level as 2008 election races intensify. This issue may have an impact on Congressional races this year and likely the general election for president as well.

Anticipating that, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace has an effective new ad campaign to demonstrate the dangers represented by Card Check, thanks to instantly-recognizable Sopranos star Vincent Curatola (Johnny Sacrimoni). You can watch the ads on www.myprivateballot.com. The commercial is a classic bottom-line message alerting people to the danger of this legislation and asking why labor unions are pushing it so hard.

CDW is a coalition of dozens of worker and employer associations and organizations who are fighting to protect the right to a federally supervised private ballot when workers are deciding whether or not to join a union. CDW opposes the so-called Employee Free Choice Act because it would strip Americans of that right and replace it with a system where an employee’s vote is no longer private and is made public to the employer, union organizers and co-workers.

Card check proponents argue secret ballots are extended ordeals that are delayed by employers. But under the National Labor Relations Act, the average time for an election to be held is just 39 days and 94 percent of elections are held within 56 days. While elections might take longer on occasion, abandoning a system that protects a worker’s privacy makes no sense.

Proponents may argue card checks are an effective way to determine the wishes of a majority of employees. However, many times a worker signs the cards not out of intent to organize but rather to avoid offending the person who asks them to sign, often a fellow worker, or simply to get the person off their back. Card check system exposes employees to campaigns of misinformation, intimidation and coercion to sign the cards where the private ballot system allows a worker to confidentially express their wishes.

Claims of employer misconduct in private ballot elections are overblown. The National Labor Relations Board says employers illegally fire only 1.6 percent of employees involved in organizing drives. Even if employees are fired, the NLRB has a safeguard against such action by forcing the employer to recognize and bargain with the union in case of illegal firings even if the union lost the election. Similarly, employers are mandated to provide complete lists of employment to union organizers within a week of announcing intent to organize or another election might be held by the Board.

The notion that employers use the secret ballot as a staging ground for anti-union campaigns is ill-conceived. In 85% of all cases of union organizing, the employer and the union reach agreement on the contentious issues surrounding union elections.

This is expected to be labor unions’ number one issue during the upcoming election campaigns, so voters need to educate themselves on the candidates’ positions. According to a recent poll by McLaughlin & Associates, Americans almost unanimously believe workers should continue to have the right to a private ballot election when deciding whether to organize a union. Strong voter sentiment is evident among all voter demographics including party affiliation and union households. Seven in ten voters (70%) say that they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress who voted in favor of taking away a worker's right to have a federally supervised secret ballot election to decide whether to organize a union.

Among the presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both support the EFCA and have declared they would sign it as president. Senator John McCain voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act and doesn’t support bargaining rights for federal workers.

As you continue to educate yourself about which candidates deserve your vote in 2008 based on their positions on issues that matter, be sure you know where they stand on the card check issue if you are concerned about voting privacy and economic growth.

Reminder from Healthcare Council Chair Doug O'Brien:

Our 2008 Healthcare Conference will be Thursday, May 15 from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm at the Marriott Chicago Downtown, 540 North Michigan Avenue , with a reception from 4:30 to 7:00. I believe you will find our speakers and panelists to be experts on healthcare problem solving.

The future of healthcare in this country and the direction it takes will greatly influence your company’s bottom line and our state’s economic outlook. I encourage you to join us to focus on existing and emerging practices we can employ together.

If you are not available on May 15, please send your key benefits or HR staff members. Pass along this information to those in your organization you believe would gain the most from this conference

Learn more and register at www.ilchamber.org. If you have any questions, call 217 522-5512, ext. 226.

I look forward to seeing you there.