House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives
Republicans
Rep. Howard P. “Buck†McKeon
Ranking Member
Fiscally responsible reforms for students, workers and retirees.
Left Turns
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Steve Forde |
After a Week at Home, Democrats Return to Washington to Take Away Workers’ Private Voting Rights
As Congress spent a week away from Washington, the private voting rights of American workers remained in peril. This week, these rights will be placed squarely in the crosshairs by Democrats in the U.S. House.
On Thursday, the House will consider the cleverly-titled “Employee Free Choice Act,” legislation to strip workers of their private voting rights in union organizing elections and make their votes public through a “card check.” In card check campaigns, union bosses gather authorization cards purportedly signed by workers expressing their desire for a union to represent them – a process that notoriously leaves workers open to coercion, pressure, and outright intimidation.
Today, in the Washington Post, columnist George Will underscored the particularly egregious and undemocratic nature of the bill, noting:
“Under the card-check system, unions are able to, in effect, select the voters they want. It strips all workers of privacy and exposes them, one at a time, to the face-to-face pressure of union organizers who distribute and collect the cards. The Supreme Court has said that the card-check system is ‘admittedly inferior to the election process.’ Repealing a right - to secret ballots - long considered fundamental to democratic culture would be a radical act.”
This follows a column by Rep. John Kline (R-MN) published yesterday on the website Townhall.com, in which he wrote:
“The right to a secret ballot is the cornerstone of our democracy. For centuries, Americans – regardless of their race, creed, or gender – have fought for the right to vote…and the right to keep that vote to themselves. Now, just months after the new Democrat majority was elected in 435 separate, private ballot elections, it is preparing to strip men and women of their right to a private ballot in the workplace. What could be more undemocratic than that?”
There’s no way around it. As Thursday draws closer, Democrats are intent on fully paying back the special interests who helped them gain the Majority, even at the expense of the private voting rights of the working men and women they claim to represent in Congress.
U.S. House Education and Labor Committee Republicans
http://republicans.edlabor.house.gov | (202) 225-4527