Marathon Pundit: AFL-CIO flip flop on remote location elections

Friday, June 18, 2010

AFL-CIO flip flop on remote location elections

Homo sapiens' use of intimidation certainly predates history. So if the Employee Free Choice Act and its repugnant "card check" provision dies in a Congressional committee, union bosses will just move on to another form of coercion.

AFL-CIO Defends NLRB Request For Information Concerning Electronic Voting Systems:

Business groups are criticizing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for exploring electronic union balloting, charging that workers would be subject to the same kind of intimidation as if card-check legislation were approved. At issue is a "request for information" released by NLRB that asks federal contractors how they would administer a union electronic voting system. The notice asks contractors to provide information on how they would implement a system, such as how much it would cost. Business groups opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) immediately argued the move would leave workers subject to intimidation if they are voting on union representation from remote locations. A spokesman for the AFL-CIO said the business groups were manipulating the facts. "Their take on this issue is driven by greed and as falsely based as their take on the Employee Free Choice Act and every other issue. Furthermore, while the board may be looking at ways to modernize voting, it is premature and they are simply manipulating the facts as there is not even a board proposal on this," Josh Goldstein, an AFL-CIO spokesman, said. (Kevin Bogardus, "Union E-Vote Exploration Sets Off Card-Check, Business," The Hill, 6/18/10)

On the other hand...

AFL-CIO Blog Promotes Study Stating "Major Electronic Voting Systems Used In The United States … Have Significant Security And Reliability Vulnerabilities":

Do you own a Blackberry? Then you might be able to change the outcome of a state or national election. That's the frightening finding of a yearlong study on electronic voting released Wednesday by the Brennan Center for Justice. The report, The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World, concludes the three major electronic voting systems used in the United States – optical scanners, touch screen with paper trails and those without paper trails – have significant security and reliability vulnerabilities. (James Parks, "One Person With A Blackberry Could Swing A Vote," AFL-CIO Blog, 6/30/06)