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Coloradans for Employee Freedom were on the streets again, this time at Schaffer/Udall Debate #2.  Along with many supporters of the two candidates, the Waldo-themed protesters were back in the mix, this time rubbing elbows with sign-wavers outside of Fox 31 studios.  They continue to ask “Where’s Udall?” on the Employee Free Choice Act, and point out his deep ties to union interests.   How can Udall support an act that takes away the right of private ballot elections for workers?  How can Udall support this Big Labor power grab, when only 7% of his constituency are actually in unions?  Udall finally arrives and rushes into the building, leaving these questions hanging in the air….  

When it comes to honoring American traditions, Colorado Senate candidate Mark Udall is very selective. In a recent clip targeted toward union organizers, Udall claims that the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act is important because it allows workers to “honor the American traditions of collective bargaining and organizing in the workplace.” Sadly, the American tradition of private ballot voting doesn’t make the list.

Recently Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado took a moment to discuss the Employee Free Choice Act with talkshow host Mike Rosen on 850 KOA.  He defends the secret ballot for employees, and calls the card check bill/EFCA “irresponsible”.  He points out that the private ballot is a tradition that we must preserve to protect workers from intimidation from unions, management, and fellow employees. 

         Senator Allard comments on EFCA

He also comments that any Democrat gains in the coming election will increase the chance of this deceptive legislation becoming law.  Democrat Congressman Mark Udall is running for Senator Allard’s seat, and as a cosponsor and ‘yes’ vote on the bill in the House of Representatives in 2007, he continues to support this legislation.  Should he win, the Democrats will be one step closer to trampling workers’ rights and opening the flood gates of union organization.  Coloradans for Employee Freedom agree with Senator Allard that this legislation must not pass for the good of our workers and our state.

Coloradans for Employee Freedom caught up with Congressman Mark Udall recently to ask his exact opinion on removing the private ballot from union organization elections.  When asked, he claims that he doesn’t know what our concerned citizen is talking about.  We know this to be false, as Udall not only voted for the Employee Free Choice Act in the House of Representatives in 2007, but actually cosponsored the bill.  EFCA will remove the private ballot from union organization efforts, hurting US workers, and dramatically expanding union membership.  Not suprising from someone who has received $1,105,525 from various union interests throughout his career…

Earlier this week, a crucial debate took place between candidates for Colorado’s empty Senate seat, and Coloradans for Employee Freedom were in attendance. They were there to protest Congressman Mark Udall and his support for the Employee Free Choice Act and big labor interests. Parodying the classic children’s book, “Where’s Waldo”, they were asking crucial questions, such as “Where’s Udall” on EFCA? They were also handing out information regarding Udall’s career-long support of labor unions and labor unions’ long-time financial support of his political career.

In this clip, Betsy Markey, Democrat candidate for the 4th Congressional District of Colorado, chooses to ignore the fact that workers will lose their right to private ballot elections through EFCA, instead choosing to focus on the fact the Employee Free Choice Act will punish businesses and streamline the union organization process that has been in place since the great depression. Typical for a Union-backed Democrat, Markey does not see business as an opportunity for workers and the backbone of our economy, but rather as a hindrance that fails to advance her liberal agenda. She has already received over $62,000 from Union interests this election cycle thus far, a sum that will continue to increase through the course of the race.

Her website and campaign literature claim that she is a supporter of small business, but this is in direct opposition of her support for EFCA, legislation that will make it incredibly easy to unionize those small businesses, thus lowering productivity/profitability and making it harder to achieve success. Markey’s backing of this issue is clearly not in line with the hard working folks or entrepreneurial small businesses of Eastern and Northern Colorado…

On Monday, Denver Newsradio 850 KOA talk show host Mike Rosen and former Colorado Governor Bill Owens fielded a call asking about the governor’s viewpoints on the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act.

Owens shares an interesting story of a Teamster union representative agreeing with him on the un-democratic nature of the law and his belief that it is inevitably going to pass into law. They also really drive home the point that it is a huge issue in the upcoming senate race between sitting Congressman Mark Udall and former Congressman Bob Shaffer.

Coloradans for Employee Freedom couldn’t agree more! Udall cosponsored and voted for EFCA in the House in 2007, and would be a swing vote if elected to the Senate in current Republican Senator Wayne Allard’s stead.

Listen to the segment here

I came across two great letters to the editor in Colorado this week holding Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall accountable for his unconscionable support of the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.

Mark Davidson wrote in today’s Denver Post:

There has been nothing coy about Democratic candidates’ courtship of big labor this election year. Colorado’s own senatorial candidate, Congressman Mark Udall, has been one of the leading suitors.

And why wouldn’t Udall and other Democrats support union leaders when they are estimated to spend millions of dollars on political campaigns this election cycle? Of course, union chiefs are making sure their political puppets give them something in return and this year they’re after support for the deceptively named federal Employee Free Choice Act.

Currently, our laws allow employees a private-ballot election when deciding whether to unionize. But EFCA would ban elections and replace them with an easily corruptible and public method called “card check.” If card check becomes law, workers will lose their right to privacy while crooked union bosses will get more dues dollars from hard-working Americans.

That’s a bad deal, and Mark Udall should be ashamed for supporting it.

And Lois Dunn wrote in the Grand Junction Sentinel:

How unfortunate is it that the Democratic Party has decided to overlook the best interests of working-class voters and eliminate democracy in the workplace?

Virtually every Democratic candidate this year, including Mark Udall and Barack Obama, are pushing for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which is a massive handout to organized labor. EFCA would eliminate the private-ballot vote when unionizing a workplace and put in place a system where workers could be intimidated and pressured into signing petitions for unionization.

This system would allow union-membership — and thus union revenue from dues dollars — to soar nationwide. Those dues dollars would be funneled right back into the campaigns of the unions’ Democratic supporters.

Udall should join the 87 percent of Americans who oppose this legislation and support supervised private ballot elections instead of pandering to his union funders.