(Published in the Redding Record-Searchlight on March 13, 2009)

“What’s in a name?”  Over five hundred years ago, William Shakespeare used this question to point out that it is unimportant what something is called, but the substance contained within matters a great deal.  This holds particularly true with the Employee Free Choice Act, a piece of legislation introduced this week that champions anything but free choice.  Also described as “card check” legislation, the bill would open up workers to possible coercion and intimidation by union officials or company management by eliminating secret ballot union elections.  This bill exemplifies the power of special interests in Washington, D.C.  Some in Congress have chosen to side with powerful union leadership groups despite opposition by a majority of the American people and rank-and-file union members. 

I support Americans’ right to unionize freely, which is why I oppose this bill.  Simply put, this bill is anti-worker.  Under the current system workers can express their choice on whether to unionize by a secret ballot election.  But this bill would effectively replace that private method with a public sign-up, leaving employees open to intimidation, coercion, and retribution based on how they vote.  Free elections held by secret ballot are an essential cornerstone of our democratic process.  We must ensure that privacy is upheld at the workplace; no worker should ever be forced into publicizing their personal views on unionization.  Currently, union enrollment is down.  But instead of retooling their organizations by offering workers the services they want and need, Big Labor is fighting to keep their out-dated mode of operations and are asking Congress for a free pass to sign up workers whether they want a union or not.  

All across our nation, businesses are being forced to cut jobs to stay afloat in this difficult economy.  Yet this bill, being sold as beneficial to workers, is actually a threat to American jobs.  Last week, Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar, an economist with the non-partisan firm LECG Consulting, released a study finding that if union ranks grew by 1.5 million in the first year after enactment of the “Employee Free Choice Act” as predicted by union leaders, 600,000 jobs would be lost the following year.  Many small businesses, which don’t have the resources of large corporations yet create 80% of new jobs in America, would be unable to handle the increased operating costs associated with increased unionization and penalties included in the legislation.  Working families deserve better than special interest legislation that amounts to political payback in Washington. 

This is why I am supporting alternative legislation that would guarantee workers the right to a secret ballot. Called the Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 1176), this plan ensures that no one – not unions, not employers – could ever take away workers’ right to vote in private.  As the opposition to ‘card check’ grows, it has become clear that the “Secret Ballot Protection Act” is the common sense proposal that best upholds our democratic traditions and protects American workers.