As you think about Card Check, it's important to understand two major ways it could put your existing right to vote at risk:
First, Card Check would allow a union that collects signed authorization cards from a majority of workers (50 percent plus one) in the target bargaining unit to bypass a secret ballot election and request to be immediately recognized as the official representative of all workers in the bargaining unit.
Second, Card Check would allow unions to organize without giving large numbers of workers the opportunity to vote. As long as the union collects signed authorization cards from a majority of workers (50 percent plus one), it has no obligation to ask the other half of the workers if they want a union or not. So, a union could be approved to represent you without you even knowing a card-signing campaign was under way.
So, as you weigh the pros and cons of Card Check, be sure one of the questions you ask yourself is, "How important is my right to vote?"
Is there a good substitute for a secret ballot election?
Current law is based on the theory that the best way to assure a fair union organizing process – and to ensure your right to vote without fear of intimidation or retaliation – is with a secret ballot election. The secret ballot encourages both union leaders and management representatives to behave fairly during the union organizing efforts. If either side uses pressure, harassment or scare tactics, workers can reject that behavior in the secret ballot election.
Legislators flip on Card Check support
In an August 2001 letter to the Mexican government, fifteen members of the U.S. Congress – ten of whom are now co-sponsors of EFCA – wrote, "We feel that the secret ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they might not otherwise choose."
Doesn't that make you wonder why these same members of Congress would co-sponsor a bill that would effectively eliminate the secret ballot union election for U.S. workers?
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