The Next 5 Things: #2- Card Check

01-26-10 • Uncommon Sense

The Employee Free Choice Act, or “card check,” has been introduced in the past three Congresses, but it always failed to win the 60 votes needed to pass the controversial legislation in the Senate. The proposed law gives workers a choice of forming a union through majority sign-up (“card check”) or an election by secret ballot. Critics warn that this will lead to employee intimidation to sign cards and will deny individuals the right to a secret ballot. The secret ballot has been the safety valve in the organizing process. Employees could go along with process to allow a vote by signing the organizing petition but had they always had the safety of the secret ballot to protect their individual vote. As a manufacturing manager for 30 years I have had a front row seat to union organizing efforts twice. In both cases, employees were under tremendous peer pressure to sign the petition. However, both times the union was defeated by the secret ballot. It seems like the process worked as it