One News Now (Link) - Jim Brown (May 14, 2009)
President Bush's former Labor secretary says the White House-backed Employee Free Choice Act would be more appropriately titled the "Employee No Free Choice Act."
Labor organizations and their liberal Democratic allies on Capitol Hill are pushing aggressively for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "card check" legislation. If enacted, the bill would take away workers' right to a secret ballot and ease the ability of unions to organize.
The legislation was once thought to be in jeopardy in the Senate, but may have new life now that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has switched to the Democratic Party. Former Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao believes the bill could lead to the coercion or intimidation of rank-and-file union workers.
"If the Democrats are successful, the average American worker could find himself in a union he was denied the right to vote for, with a contract which he had no say in whether to ratify, and with insufficient information about how unions and their leaders are spending their hard-earned compulsory dues," she points out.
Ironically, one senior Democratic lawmaker recently told The Hill newspaper that the level of seniority awarded to Arlen Specter by the Senate Democratic Caucus would be decided by secret ballot during an organizational meeting after the 2010 election.
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