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Card-Check Opponents Rally At State Capitol - The Bulletin
By Bradley Vasoli, The Bulletin
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Harrisburg — Free-marketers have momentarily staunched organized labor’s effort against using secret ballots in unionization elections, making it clear their desire to keep it that way, yesterday at the Capitol Rotunda.
Commonly known as “card check,” the federal legislation would automatically certify a union for any workplace with more than 50 percent of employees signing organization petitions.
Current law gives the employer the option of recognizing a union that gets that level of support. Alternatively, the company can allow the union to proceed with a secret-ballot election after 30 percent of workers have signed the cards.
Card-check opponents worry that allowing unions to bypass the secret-ballot process will permit intimidation on the part of labor organizers who accost workers to gain support for unionization. They also argue it will, in turn, put too much pressure on businesses and stunt economic growth. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney voiced concerns along those lines in a conference call with state legislators and reporters yesterday.
Commonly known as “card check,” the federal legislation would automatically certify a union for any workplace with more than 50 percent of employees signing organization petitions.
Current law gives the employer the option of recognizing a union that gets that level of support. Alternatively, the company can allow the union to proceed with a secret-ballot election after 30 percent of workers have signed the cards.
Card-check opponents worry that allowing unions to bypass the secret-ballot process will permit intimidation on the part of labor organizers who accost workers to gain support for unionization. They also argue it will, in turn, put too much pressure on businesses and stunt economic growth. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney voiced concerns along those lines in a conference call with state legislators and reporters yesterday.
“I think it would have a devastating impact on the nature of business creation in this country,” he said. “I think you’d find that the economy would be impacted by this more than anything we’ve done negatively in the past 25 years. I consider this as an attack on American entrepreneurialism, on the American workplace and on the American worker."