Some people think that Card Check is a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.
Supporters say Card Check is needed to make it easier and quicker for workers to join unions. And yet ...
- Unions have won more than half of all elections in the last 11 years, topping more than 60 percent in recent years.
- Unions' win rate in employee organizing elections increased 10 years in a row leading up to 2006.
- According to the National Labor Relations Board, unions won two out of every three private ballot elections conducted by the NLRB in the first half of 2008.
- According to U.S. Department of Labor data, union membership grew slightly in 2007 and 2008, with more than 428,000 workers becoming union workers in 2008 alone.
- According to the National Labor Relations Board, the average time for an election to be held is within 39 of the filing of the petition. Overall, 95 percent of all initial union elections are held within 56 days.
As these statistics show, there clearly is no barrier for workers who want to join a union. Current law provides them an absolute right to do so – and where unions are desired by workers, they have been victorious in secret ballot elections.
Eliminating secret ballot elections – THAT would be a problem
What workers are concerned about is about preserving their right to those secret ballot elections. A February 2009 nationwide survey of 1,000 likely voters commissioned by The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace produced these results:
- 86 percent of workers who voted for President Obama believe a workers' vote should be kept private in a union organizing election.
- 81 percent of Obama voters believe secret ballot elections are the best way to protect the individual rights of workers.
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