LaborPains.org

Even as newspapers and columnists around the country like the Sun Sentinel in Florida, the Washington Post in Washington D.C. and our own Oregonian deride the act, Jeff Merkley supports it.

Even as bloggers, the new media for politics in the United States, point out the major flaws and hypocrisy with this grossly mis-named act, Jeff Merkley supports it.

Even as members of his own party, liberal icons like George McGovern speak out against it as being un-democratic, Jeff Merkley supports it.

Even though a survey shows that 94% of Oregonians believe employees should have the right to vote on forming a union by a private ballot election where each individual’s vote is kept private, Jeff Merkley supports it.

If you follow the money, the answer seems pretty clear: Big Labor Unions and the Union Bosses are contributing tens of thousands to Merkley’s campaign. Would you care to guess what the Big Labor Unions #1 priority is for Congress next year? You’re right: Passing the Employee Free Choice Act. You can bet that the people they supported will need to support their #1 priority.

Which all means that Big Labor, not Oregonians, are Jeff Merkley’s #1 priority.

This ad challenging DFL Chairman Brian Melendez and Al Franken to, once and for all, debate us on EFCA, ran today in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The continuing refusal of liberal supporters of EFCA to actually debate the issue stands in stark contrast to former Senator George McGovern’s courage on this issue. 

Senator McGovern, a principled liberal, understands the issue clearly and has the courage to tell the truth.  At a time when our political process could use a few elder statesmen in both parties, it found one in George McGovern.

While we certainly don’t expect Al Franken and Brian Melendez to repudiate their support for EFCA, they could follow the lead of Senator McGovern and reasonably debate the issue in a public forum rather than resort to name calling and legal shenanigans.

The Employee Freedom Action Committee (EFAC) continued its $30 million dollar campaign with a new television advertisement premiering during tonight’s Presidential Debate coverage. EFAC is spending $2 million airing the ad which, in addition to running during tonight’s debate, will run heavily in seven states that EFAC has been targeting since May. The campaign has criticized Senators and candidates who support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

The ad features former Democratic Presidential nominee George McGovern condemning those in his own party who have supported EFCA. In the 60 second ad, Sen. McGovern speaks directly to camera and highlights what’s wrong with the legislation.

“This legislation is an attempt by unions to get a bailout from their friends in Congress. George McGovern rightly criticizes the politicians who are selling out and backing this indefensible legislation,” said J. Justin Wilson, Managing Director for the Employee Freedom Action Committee. “Democrats are re-paying their union funders with legislation that hijacks workplace democracy which will no doubt result in restrictive work rules, inefficiencies, and job loss as the unions have proven capable of doing time and again..”

“EFCA is the elephant in the room during tonight’s debate and we are hopeful that Senator McGovern’s comments will spur discussion on this important issue,” he concluded.

For a guy who’s so confident when he’s calling us names and filing frivolous legal complaints, DFL Party Chairman Brian Melendez sure runs away fast when we ask him about his refusal to debate us on EFCA.

I don’t know that I’ve seen a guy with not much to do run away so fast, unless of course, it’s our old friend Ashwin Madia.

Nevertheless, we aren’t going to give up in our efforts to have a substantive debate with Brian Melendez on EFCA.  We may have to put on our running gear, but we’ll keep trying.

Bruce Lunsford has spent most of this campaign accusing his opponent of being beholden to the “special interest” groups and supporting issues that are important to contributors. But what he has failed to realize is that he himself is beholden to one of the largest “special interest” groups in America today – labor unions.

Here’s how it works…..

Bruce needs campaign cash to help fund his third statewide campaign.

The unions need more votes in the U.S. Senate to pass the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

Bruce still needs people to vote for him and still needs their campaign cash.

The unions have an army of 300,000 union voters in Kentucky but need a candidate who will support the EFCA so the labor bosses can harass and intimidate the workers until they have the votes they need to unionize.

Bruce desperately needs people to vote for him and figures that supporting a bill that will strip workers’ rights is a pretty good deal in exchange for their campaign cash and votes. No one will ever know, right?

Bruce decides to support the EFCA.

The unions open their checkbook and give Bruce $120,000 in campaign contributions and unleash their members to canvas areas of Kentucky in support of Bruce.

Bruce is glad he supports the EFCA, even if it deceives Kentuckians, takes away workers’ right to a private-ballot vote and undermines our founding principal of democracy.

That, Bruce — is how your “special interests” work. We suggest that the next time you start to throw stones at your opponent you take a long look at yourself and your campaign cash because this time you’re guilty.

On Monday United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts will be in Kentucky to visit with his labor supporting crony Bruce Lunsford and foul-mouthed AFL-CIO labor boss Bill Londrigan. We can only imagine the spin these thugs will try to put on the labor’s agenda including the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

Labor has already managed to mislead the public simply by the name of the legislation; can you imagine what they will try to do over the next month to force their members and others to vote for Bruce?

Remember when Cecil Roberts spoke to the Kentucky delegation at the Democratic National Convention and then conveniently forced them all to sign a petition to support the EFCA? Then Bruce issued a statement that said he “opposed intimidation in the workplace”, so which one is it Bruce because you can’t support both because that would just make you a hypocrite.

Under the EFCA, union organizers could enter workplaces and employees’ homes to collect signatures on union contracts in lieu of a private ballot election. With this new system in place, employees lose the opportunity to vote their conscience privately, free from intimidation and harassment.

Once the curtain on the ballot booth is removed the harassment begins. So Bruce are you still for the EFCA now?

On Monday, we’re sure that Lunsford, Londrigan and Roberts will stand together to deceive Kentuckians on what the true meaning of the EFCA really is. They will tell you the EFCA is good for the working men and women of Kentucky. They will say the EFCA is necessary to provide a level playing field with businesses.

Whatever their spin is, don’t believe the hype.

Minnesota DFL Party Chairman Brian Melendez has called us names, filed a frivolous legal complaint, and done just about everything he can to avoid debating EFCA.

Following up on our Minnesota State Fair Brian Melendez Cluck Like a Chicken Contest, we sent an appropriate representative to DFL Party Headquarters to issue Chairman Melendez another invitation.  

Hopefully this time, Mr. Melendez will actually show up to defend the proposition supported by Minnesota Democrats Al Franken, Ashwin Madia, and Elwyn Tinklenberg that Minnesota workers don’t deserve a private ballot in workplace elections.

If he doesn’t agree this time, maybe we’ll have to send the whole flock.

Cluck, cluck.