LaborPains.org

One issue in the race for Oregon’s U.S. Senate seat between Senator Gordon Smith and Jeff Merkley that hasn’t been given much attention is the issue of the Employee Free Choice Act, or card check.

Card check is the system where union organizers collect cards from workers to signal their intent to have union representation as opposed to having a private ballot election in the workplace.

This grossly mis-named piece of legislation is intended to boost union membership, put more money in the Big Labor Union Bosses’ pockets and help buy elections for candidates like Jeff Merkley.

What it takes away is disturbing: The right to a private ballot in the workplace when it comes to unionization.

Taking away this fundamental American right and replacing it with cards that people sign opens workers up to coercion, threats and intimidation by union organizers. It even allows organizers to visit you at home, when your family is there!

Other races and ballot measures in Oregon are talking about it: Rick Dancer, running for Oregon Secretary of State is against taking away the private ballot; Measure 64, dealing with campaign finance reform wants to stop unions and their “purchased” candidates from taking away the right to a private ballot and even a race in the State House between Representative John Lim and Greg Matthews has addressed the issue as Matthews has come out in support of taking away a private ballot by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act..  Even David Reinhard from the Oregonian has commented that it’s not getting much attention.

We’ve tried to get Jeff Merkley to talk about the issue: here, here,and here. But Jeff Merkley seems more interested in talking about the state of Georgia then the state of Oregon.

As Oregonians, we deserve someone who will stand up for Oregon’s interests, not special interests. 

Last week, responding to the USA Today’s editorial against the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act (worth a read), AFL-CIO President John Sweeney wrote that we “don’t want a real debate on the bill.” Give me a break! The only people unwilling to discuss EFCA are the labor unions and their toadies in Congress.

If you’re a regular visitor to either UnionFacts.com or EmployeeFreedom.org, you might have noticed our debate challenge counter. A few weeks ago we put it up after American Rights at Work—Sweeney’s front group—refused to debate EFCA. Since then, we’ve reached out to others, including the Minnesota DFL to debate the issue. They’ve all refused to defend their own bill.

So if Sweeney really wants to have a “real debate” about the Employee Free Choice Act, he can have someone of his staff call me at (202) 463-7106. I’ll be waiting by the phone.

Here is an amusing video of Minnesota Democratic Congressional candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg stammering and stuttering in an attempt to justify his support of the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act:

With the election 22 days away, Presidential candidate John McCain has changed his stump speech to highlight Senator Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senator Reid’s plan to effectively eliminate private elections for working Americans.

“Senator Obama is measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections, and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.” (emphasis mine)

It is very significant that Senator McCain is campaigning on preserving the secret ballot in workplace elections and blocking legislation (EFCA) that could have devastating effects on an economy that is already in the doldrums.

After a Business and Industry Association debate at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, the Granite Staters for Employee Freedom tried to get a straight answer from Jeanne Shaheen on whether she supports a worker’s right to a private ballot in the workplace.  Take a look at 1:22 in the video below – before the cameraman can get the question out, a police officer accosts him and informs him that Jeanne Shaheen doesn’t want to talk.  Is it now policy to use the police as a barrier between politicians and uncomfortable questions?

At a Chamber of Commerce forum in Portsmouth, NH, Jeanne Shaheen had yet another opportunity to defend her support of the Employee Free Choice Act, and again she she chose to attack the questioner rather than answer the question.

From the PolitickerNJ:

After Lautenberg gave his pro-union stump speech to around 100 union members, he tried to engage a reportedly agitated Capasso in a discussion outside the union hall. The debate became heated when Capasso accused Lautenberg of taking work away from his union members, and Lautenberg responding that he fought in World War II to protect the rights that union members now enjoy. Both parties dropped a few expletives – nothing out of the ordinary for a political event in Bayonne. At one point, Steve Lenox, Lautenberg’s state director (and a former AFL-CIO staffer) needed to get between the octogenarian Senator and the union leader to make sure the argument did not escalate into a fist fight in front of about a dozen union members captivated by the debate.