The Bulletin:
Free-marketers have momentarily staunched organized labor’s effort against using secret ballots in unionization elections, making it clear their desire to keep it that way, yesterday at the Capitol Rotunda.h/t: Eric Fehrnstrom
Commonly known as “card check,” the federal legislation would automatically certify a union for any workplace with more than 50 percent of employees signing organization petitions.
Current law gives the employer the option of recognizing a union that gets that level of support. Alternatively, the company can allow the union to proceed with a secret-ballot election after 30 percent of workers have signed the cards.
Card-check opponents worry that allowing unions to bypass the secret-ballot process will permit intimidation on the part of labor organizers who accost workers to gain support for unionization. They also argue it will, in turn, put too much pressure on businesses and stunt economic growth. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney voiced concerns along those lines in a conference call with state legislators and reporters yesterday.
“I think it would have a devastating impact on the nature of business creation in this country,” he said. “I think you’d find that the economy would be impacted by this more than anything we’ve done negatively in the past 25 years. I consider this as an attack on American entrepreneurialism, on the American workplace and on the American worker."
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey last month found 61 percent of Americans support secret ballots in the organizing process while 18 percent do not. President Barack Obama and most Democratic public officials support the legislation, but it appears to have too few votes in the U.S. Senate to pass.
Sen. Arlen Specter, who switched parties today
becoming a Democrat, (officially vs just acting like one)
reaffirmed he will not support card check
See: Romney: Specter should make opposition to card-check
‘abundantly clear’
But, Specter plus Al Franken could give the Dems
the filibuster proof 60 vote majority in the Senate
2 comments:
let's be clear: Specter switching to D does not get them any closer to a filiproof majority than they already were. It's about votes, not party affiliation. I wish more in concress would remember that is about the issue, not the party, for which you should vote.
True -- The Moderates can swing the votes to either side.
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