Marathon Pundit: Card check moves from DC to the statehouses

Monday, June 20, 2011

Card check moves from DC to the statehouses

Orchard east of Merced, CA

California's beleaguered agriculture industry--what isn't beleaguered in the Tarnished State?--could soon be plagued by union card check. The free-to-peek petition drive way of unionizing--as opposed to the secret ballot--has been pushed of late by labor bosses who are seeing membership rolls in unions plummet. Even with the most pro-union president ever and healthy Democratic majorities in Congress, the bosses couldn't savor a victory toast from their Holy Grail of legislation. So Big Labor is playing small-ball now--they're taking their campaign to the statehouses. Sacramento is one stop, as Flashreport enlightens:

One might wonder what the difference is between signing a card saying you want a union and voting by secret ballot for a union. They may sound similar, but they are worlds apart. If a union organizer approaches a worker in front of other union officials or their fellow workers with an organizing card, the public pressure to sign is intense. Does anyone truly think that workers will feel free to say "no, thanks" in such a circumstance?

Interestingly, the legislation at question would impose a $20,000 fine on any employer who engages in improper behavior with workers during a unionization drive. The legislation has no fine whatsoever for unions who engage in coercion, though. Clearly, a "card check" process for forming an agriculture workers union will be, by design, ripe for abuse by union organizers.

Voting by secret ballot is the only way to determine workers' true intentions. Unions already win more than half of all secret ballot elections, so the current system seems fair to both sides – by removing the secret ballot unions want to tilt the playing field entirely in their favor. With only around 27,000 of California’s 400,000 agricultural workers choosing to work under union contract, it seems the workers have spoken loud and clear. But, instead of respecting these decisions, union officials want to alter the election process to ensure they can pressure and coerce workers into joining unions against their will.

If Governor Jerry Brown lets California workers be victimized in this way, he will be turning his back on decades of labor law. In fact, he was governor when agricultural workers were given the right to organize and form unions through secret ballot elections, standing alongside former labor leader Cesar Chavez. He would also be standing with Senator Dianne Feinstein, who opposed the federal card check legislation in 2009. With the right to form a union comes the right not to form a union—that is something Governor Brown should keep at the front of his mind.