thetruthaboutefca.com | The Truth About The Employee Free Choice Act & Card Check

Perhaps you haven’t heard, but two more former ACORN employees have been charged with voter fraud for their small part in the large rash of voter registration “irregularities.” ACORN is going so far as to say it’s a “victimless crime.” M’kay.

Such a blase attitude may be warranted if the cards were something as unimportant as a supermarket discount card, a nice coupon for half off the second entree at the local Mexican restaurant, maybe even a library card. But a voter registration card? Voting is the cornerstone of participatory democracy, and that card is the key to getting in — it’s the ultimate franchise.

So it’s interesting to note ACORN sibling SEIU’s view of the cards that are the key to the labor realm — union authorization cards that would be the one-stop sign-up for dues, work rules, failing pensions, fines, strikes, and more. While most Americans are outraged unions would try to form without letting people vote, SEIU says the card will take care of it. No need to offer the protection of a secret ballot vote, nothing to see here, move along folks.

Of course, there’s plenty of allegations to suggest that SEIU doesn’t really value the secret ballots of its own members, so perhaps cards really aren’t the answer to any problem. Perhaps SEIU isn’t worried about process, but just outcome. Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is usually bad for employees.

Just something to think about.

We have documented the way in which NLRB nominee Craig Becker’s testimony has failed to assuage the concerns that the former SEIU attorney’s anti-employer views would impair his ability to function in his potential new role.

But there’s also the concern that his mild-mannered answers — which could have left many thinking he has changed his view that he could use the NLRB to replace the current secret-ballot system with card check — didn’t tell the whole story.

LaborUnionReport.com points out this claim by AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka organizing boss Stewart Acuff on using the NLRB to pass card check when legislators would not:

It [sic] we aren’t able to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, we will work with President Obama and Vice President Biden and their appointees to the National Labor Relations Board to change the rules governing forming a union through administrative action to once again allow workers in America access to one of the most basic freedoms in a democracy–the freedom of speech and assembly and association so that workers can build the collective power to challenge the Financial Elite and Get America Back to Work. [Emphasis added.]

Hmm. Certainly worth keeping in mind as Senators send his nomination one more important step into the process Thursday morning.

Yesterday, SEIU attorney Craig Becker went before a Senate hearing aimed at investigating his radical anti-employer, anti-employee-rights views. (Here’s his prepared statement; informed observers may chuckle at his description of the hallowed National Labor Relations Board since his employer spent years attacking it and continues to skirt it religiously.)

The concerns of many are captured by the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R., Ga.) expressed concern that Becker’s writings “have indicated a belief that the NLRB has the power to make some of the dramatic changes in the card-check bill.” The so-called card-check legislation, supported by Obama and Democrats in Congress, would allow unions to bypass secret-ballot elections and instead organize in workplaces by collecting signed cards from workers.

Sen. John McCain has been leading the fight against letting Becker scoot into the NLRB seat without a hearing on his troubling views. McCain asked Becker about whether he would recuse himself from all cases before the board involving SEIU. The recap from The Hill:

Becker replied, “I will abide, Senator McCain, with the terms of that pledge scrupulously, and as I indicated, if any other matters come up outside of the scope of that pledge where any party might think that I might not be impartial, I will consider the matter…. and if necessary recuse myself from those cases.”

McCain told Becker, “That’s not good enough.”

No, Sen. McCain is correct, it’s not good enough. And here’s the real problem: Becker and SEIU envision a world in which the Board doesn’t really participate in the elections process because they don’t want an elections process at all — they simply want card check, with all its attendant threats to workplace democracy (and jobs). Becker acknowledged during one answer that SEIU is rarely a participant in a case before the Board, and the reason is the union avoids it like the plague.

Becker’s boosters are hoping to characterize the fight as “unusual” and want to focus on his pledge to recuse himself from a couple unimportant cases. The real threat is that he has shown a disregard for employer speech in critical areas and would most likely act from within the NLRB toward that end. Those who care about workplace democracy, a healthy free enterprise system, and jobs need to continue to oppose Becker based on his stated beliefs.

From the Workforce Fairness Institute:

You probably thought it was outrageous that SEIU president Andy Stern has persecuted his own members and driven away large chunks of his own organization.

You probably thought it was incredible that he dropped tens of millions of dollars on politics after leading a split in labor because the other federation was spending too much on politics.

You probably thought it was horrifying to hear how SEIU badgers — almost terrorizes — companies that don’t cave into the union’s card check demands.

Even with all that, you’ll probably still manage to be shocked that Stern has criticized Sen. Joe Lieberman and Sen. Ben Nelson for halting disastrous health care legislation by saying, “There are a lot of terrorists in the Senate who think we are supposed to negotiate with them when they have their particular needs that they want met.”

Stern has flown the cuckoo nest. We wonder if the rest of the labor movement really wants to tie their wagon to this guy.

UPDATE: Thanks to BigGovernment.com and Instapundit.com readers for joining us!

Shocking! A letter signed by 66 academics demands the immediate confirmation of SEIU counsel Craig Becker to head the National Labor Relations Board. (For a background on why employers are concerned about Mr. Becker’s positions, see here.)

Sixty-six academics is a pretty powerful thing, right? A collective call to action that we should all do a coffee spit-take, stop what we’re doing, and take action, right? Each reader can place his own weight on the importance of comments by professors, but it’s worth going back to our previous post and noting the view of academics by some inside organized labor:

• Referring to academics, Javier Morillo of SEIU 26 wants to respond with a letter that “Shames them just a little bit for signing onto something without knowing all the facts” (no one from the employer community made such an effort when academics pushed EFCA, but that’s a different story)
• Jo-Ann Mort, a would-be adviser, says of the academic group: “most of these academics really are not worth it-but spamming them sounds like what they deserve!!”
• Michelle Ringette, a frequent flack for SEIU boss Andy Stern, wrote: “I know these aren’t high value targets, but I firmly believe people shouldnot be permitted to do drive bys. They are all getting a letter this am and they all bought spot on our spam list.”

Just food for thought.

Look, we get it: professors are more popular than organized labor, but c’mon. Labor can keep trotting out this same tactic to push its anti-worker agenda, but its own cynical view (and low opinion) of academics is now in the public record and, consequently, the professor-letter brigade doesn’t do much for us and it shouldn’t mean anything to Senators considering important issues relating to the workplace.

UPDATE: Brad Peck at Chamberpost.com offers more text-book retort and adds, “They must not have done the reading.”