I
found this in-depth article on same subject as my previous post.
Secrets Are No Fun for
Unions
Scott Bensing
Wednesday,
August 20, 2008
Who are you voting for this fall? The answer to that
question is none of my business. In fact, it is a fundamental American right to
have your vote be as private as you wish. Unfortunately, Democrats and their
financiers, Big Labor, want to abolish a worker’s fundamental, American right
to a secret ballot.
Why are they doing this? Maybe because Democrats have
openly admitted they owe their 2006 electoral success to Big Labor and have promised
the elimination of the secret ballot as a return on investment. That is why
during this Congressional session every Democrat in the House and Senate voted
to abolish the secret ballot. Thankfully, Republicans in the Senate were able
to stop this disastrous bill.
This is a moment when hyperbole is unnecessary. This
unprecedented power grab by Big Labor and the willingness of Democrats to
ignore such a fundamental American right threatens the very nature of our
system of government.
Unions already spend hundreds of millions of dollars
to influence elections. Imagine what they could do when entire industries are
unwillingly coerced into joining a union and forced to pay dues – dues
earmarked for the next election cycle.
In fact, alleged coercion for political gain is
already occurring. Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that the
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation asked the Department of Justice
to investigate the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The basis for
the request centers on this fact:
“The union adopted a new amendment to its constitution
at last month's SEIU convention, requiring that every local contribute an
amount equal to $6 per member per year to the union's national political action
committee. This is in addition to regular union dues. Unions that fail to meet
the requirement must contribute an amount in ‘local union funds’ equal to the
‘deficiency’ plus a 50% penalty.” (The
Wall Street Journal, 7/28/08)
Can you name any other company or organization that
could compel its membership to fund political organizations that rank and file
membership may or may not agree with? As I said earlier, hyperbole is not
needed on this issue. With November approaching, a potential Barack Obama
administration promising to “play some offense for organized labor” and
Democrats’ determination to eliminate the secret ballot, the need for a robust
Republican presence in the Senate has never been greater.
So important is eliminating the secret ballot to Big
Labor that a few weeks ago Democrat Senate candidates, Reps. Tom Allen (ME),
Tom Udall (NM), and Mark Udall (CO), along with Kay Hagan (NC), Bruce Lunsford
(KY), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Jeff Merkley (OR) all scurried to Chicago for a meeting when Union bosses beckoned. The three
current Congressmen already voted to eliminate the secret ballot and likely,
along with the other Democrat candidates in Chicago, pledged to eliminate secret ballot elections in the
future as well.
Are such promises to Big Labor leaders representative
of the will of the people? Absolutely not! Amazingly, Democrats don’t seem to
care that their agenda flies in the face of public opinion. More than 85% of
Americans oppose eliminating the secret ballot and even the media, across all
political spectrums, has editorialized against such legislation.
“Abuses of workers’ true wishes not only are
potential, they are guaranteed. There is no ‘free choice’ in this travesty,
clearly a payoff to union leaders who contributed so handsomely to the
Democrats’ November election victory.” (The
San Francisco Examiner, 02/16/07)
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided
to hold a vote this Wednesday on perhaps the most unpopular element of the
Democratic agenda… Under the so-called card-check bill, a company would no longer
have the right to demand a secret-ballot election to certify a union, thus
stripping 140 million American workers of the right to decide in private
whether to organize.” (The Wall
Street Journal, 6/18/07)
Democrats continue to oppose the will of the people,
instead working to reward Big Labor. In fact, this issue is so far out of the
mainstream that even ultra-liberal former Democrat Senator and Vice
Presidential candidate George McGovern has publicly opposed this legislation.
Additionally, elimination of the secret ballot will be
the second payback for Big Labor, since Democrats already cut funding to the
federal agency tasked with investigating union corruption. Without Republicans
in the Senate to stop them, what fundamental right will Democrats eliminate
next at the behest of their financial supporters?
This fall when you go to the polls, the choice is
clear (and private); the choice is Republican.
