Employee Free Choice Act - Unconstitutional!

Okay, let me tell you a story.

When Tina and I were first married she was walking in the mall. As she passed a kiosk selling Bible video tapes (this was in the olden days before DVD) she was accosted by the sales person who made her believe that she would be a bad mom if her kids did not grow up learning values from these video tapes. As you certainly know, the pressure from these sales people can be immense, and telling them “no” can be nearly impossible.

The short story is that, when Tina left the mall that afternoon we were on the hook to receive nearly 100 video tapes over the next 5 years at a cost of more than $1700! This is not what Tina wanted, but again, the pressure was fantastic.

Incidentally, we noticed an increase in the level of violence in our home as our boys learned about stoning the prophets and fighting with swords. I’m still waiting to see evidence of the values that were taught.

Now, on to “card-check” legislation, or the Employee Free Choice Act.

Who’s not for “free choice”? Opposing this would seem to be un-American, right?

Wrong.

All employees in America have the right to organize and to form or join labor unions and collective bargaining units. This right is already vigorously protected by the Constitution and by the Department of Labor.

The current process allows for employees to express interest in organizing via the card check. This begins a period of education, discussion, and debate among the employees and gives them time to consider the benefits that a particular union would bring to their work lives.

Then there is a secret vote. This is important. Union organizers are often very enthusiastic. In fact, sometimes they are perceived as aggressive. This can be even more intimidating than the video tape sales person my wife ran into!

Bullying and violence are tools long used by union organizers. There are many well-documented cases of union organizers making harassing phone calls to undecided workers’ homes or making late evening visits to the homes of outspoken opponents to organizing to discuss the bad things that could happen to the worker or his family if the union fails.

There is tremendous pressure to decide one way or the other. There is fear of retaliation from management if you are known to be in favor of organizing. There is fear of reprisal by co-workers if you are known not to support the movement.

Imagine now, that there is no secrecy when a worker expresses his opinion. He’s caught in a “catch-22”. If he does not sign the card his peers know he is a management lap dog. If he does sign the card his boss knows he’s for the union. In either case the worker is exposed to the risk of retaliation.

The secret vote mitigates those fears and allows the worker to exercise his full rights under the First Amendment. The worker is the only one who knows how he exercised his conscience.
The Employee Free Choice Act is the boldest move by Big Labor to limit Free Speech that I have seen in my lifetime.

Imagine a psychopath who puts a knife to your throat and says, “I like to kill people whose favorite color is blue. What’s your favorite color?” Will you say that it’s blue? Not on your life!

Now consider the worker who hears his peers talking angrily about how badly management treats them and mocking those who stay under the “Man’s” thumb. How likely is he to speak out in favor of management or against the organizing movement?

The Employee Free Choice Act will open the door for bullying and will cause people to fear expressing their own opinions. It will stifle debate. It will ultimately benefit only the union bosses and will be a detriment to the worker, the work place, the company, and the economy.

This harks back to Benjamin Franklin’s observation that those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither. In this case, deserve it or not, workers will lose both the liberty to speak their minds and the security of anonymously voting their conscience.