Jack McKay, president of the Eastern Maine Labor Council, took time away from a pro-EFCA rally to explain why the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that will take away an employee’s right to a private ballot, should be law in the United States.

Mr. McKay compares the formation of a workplace union without a private ballot to the formation of the Maine legislature or the Iraqi democracy. According to McKay’s philosophy, a union should be instituted in any workplace, no matter what the employees of the businesses think. The union, which has power to collect union dues from your paycheck, negotiate on your behalf with management and use your money to donate to political parties, can all be put into power without a say from the workers.

The right to a private ballot is fundamental to a democracy. Anti-worker union bosses like Jack McKay believe that there is no need for a private ballot because the union bosses know what is best for every employee. No employee will have a private ballot to cast his or her choice on what would be best for them or their family.

It is important that the right to a private ballot is kept for all workers in the United States. Each worker should have the opportunity to hear both sides of the debate and make an educated and private choice. If the Employee Free Choice Act is passed, union bosses like Jack McKay will be able to influence workers’ decisions by demanding a public “card check” that an employee will have to sign, publicly, announcing their decision on unionization.

Mainers for Employee Freedom will once again ask: Congressman Allen, why do you support taking away a worker’s right to a private ballot?

Stalin, Mao, Hussein, Castro. When you think about these 4 men you think of the horrible atrocities and total disregard for human rights they committed. They had no regard for human life or the suffering of their fellow countrymen. They put their subjects to work in prison camps for days with little to no food. They murdered whole families on a hunch they were dissenting from the government’s policies. They even denied them overtime pay and paid family leave if a member of their family was sick! They also failed to allow them to vote to organize and any public mention of organization was not met kindly.

Luckily, we live the United States. Americans are free to dissent against the government policies they don’t like and even make up lies to back up their claims. In America we value the right to a private ballot. Every 2 or 4 years we cast our votes in a voting booth, alone. If we don’t like the leadership, we vote to change it.

The pro-EFCA crowd is now trying to equate their undemocratic policies with basic human rights. As seen in this video they are trying to scare others into believing the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act that actually takes away a worker’s right to a private ballot is now a “human right.”

One of the pillars of our republican form of government is the importance of a private democratic election ballot. Big Labor now seems to be doing whatever it takes to scare people into agreeing that taking away a private ballot is now a basic human right.

So long to the right to equality and privacy and hello to the new human “right” – the right to have your private ballot vote substituted for a public card check.

Ron Bancroft, a strong Tom Allen supporter, has written an OpEd in today’s Portland Press Herald exposing the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act for what it is: an attack on traditional democratic values.  This must come as a major blow to Allen, who has been attacking opponents of his bill as liars and anti-union.

The Employee Free Choice Act is not likely to improve the lot of U.S. workers, but it would improve the leverage of U.S. unions. It is the kind of law that politicians sponsor from time to time to please the proponents, figuring that it has little chance of being passed.

Bancroft has confirmed a belief many Mainers have had since Allen sponsored the bill in the House.  Tom Allen has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Big Labor.  The Big Labor special interests plan to spend over $300 million dollars electing pro-EFCA politicians.

From my perspective as a Tom Allen supporter, it is hard to reconcile his support of this legislation with the more pragmatic and thoughtful positions he usually espouses…I simply have to hope that, on closer examination, he sees the “Employee Free Choice Act” is anything but that.

Tom Allen was campaigning for Senator on the hope that his sponsorship of card-check legislation would go unnoticed.  Unfortunately for him, this bill has made it to the forefront of the debate on workers’ rights to a private ballot.  Under EFCA, this right is taken away and a public contract is put in its place.  An overwhelming majority of Mainers oppose this legislation and now even Tom Allen’s own supporters are publicly against EFCA.  When will Tom Allen wake up?

The Democrats just got back from Denver and for the few hours before John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, all the media could talk about was Barack Obama’s rock star performance in front of 85,000 fans on Mount O-lympus. But do the millions of Americans who watched “The Chosen One” last Thursday know that there was more than lofty rhetoric and promises of hope and change at the Democrat National Convention?

Last week the Democrats voted on their 2008 platform. This is the platform that they will implement if they are elected this November. Among them are taxpayer funded abortions, increased funding for the arts and repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. The 94 page document (twice as long as 2004) also recognizes the Big Labor funded proposal that Tom Allen, Michael Michaud and Barack Obama all fervently sponsored in Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act.

“We will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions and fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.” -2008 Democrat Party Platform

With each passing week, the EFCA bill is seen for what it is: a repeal of democracy. Every day Mainers read about the damage the bill will do to their right to privacy at the workplace. Ninety-two percent of Mainers want to keep a private ballot when they have the chance to vote on unionization but the Democrat Party refuses to take note. Tom Allen turns the other way or cries foul when the Employee Free Choice Act legislation is brought up in conversation.

After the Democrats big party in Denver last week, we know that employees’ rights will continue to be at the forefront of the Senate election in Maine. The DNC is just more proof that politicians like Tom Allen care more about Big Labor special interests than the everyday worker in Maine.

Is there a blogging equivalent of a double take, because I’m doing that right now.

Maine labor boss Jack McKay is a tricky guy. He has been trying to conflate union leadership elections, with union organization elections in an effort to suggest that unions like secret ballots. But if you know anything about unions, you know there is a huge difference.

To that point, yesterday he held a press conference to release a report titled “Truth and Falsehoods,” in which he said that “Union members in eastern Maine vote by private ballot all the time. Just like the sun rises in the east, this is not some big surprise.”

To prove it, he produced a survey of union leaders that showed that 221 union officials were elected by secret ballot. All of this, he said, shows that our advertisements in Maine are wrong.

But of course, our ads have nothing to do with union leadership elections. It is great that they elect their leaders by secret ballot, but that has nothing to do with our ads. What’s not great, is that McKay, Tom Allen, and the Maine Democratic Party are lying about the true intentions of the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act, which would effectively eliminate secret ballot elections during union organizing campaigns.

Sadly, Bangor Daily News reporter Dawn Gagnon seems to have bought this hook-line-and-sinker. If she’d bothered to so much as call us, I’d have explained McKay’s ruse.

Despite the multiple attempts by Tom Allen to downplay his support for the Employee Free Choice Act, Mainers are getting a large dose of the facts in the bill. Somewhat unknown before the Employee Freedom Action Committee shed light on the issue, EFCA has now become a major issue this November. While Mainers for Employee Freedom continue to put pressure on those who support the issue and broadcast the details of the bill to the citizens of Maine, the politicians who secretly sponsored the bill in Congress are now forced to attack the messengers and not debate the facts.

Many Maine liberal websites were astonished when George McGovern wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal and said “being a good steward of democracy means telling our friends ‘no’ when they press for a course that in the long run may weaken labor and disrupt a tried and trusted method for conducting honest elections.” So much so that one site said “no” to a blogger who posted in agreement with McGovern and banned him from further columns. The facts are there and Big Labor and its supporters can’t stand it!

Ninety-two percent of Mainer’s agree that it is important to keep the right to vote in a private ballot election for unions. Special interest politicians like Tom Allen are finding this out the hard way.

Tom Allen tip-toes around the issue of private ballot votes for unionization elections in a radio interview July 23rd. Because 92% of Mainers are against having their right to a private union ballot taken away, Congressman Allen has a difficult time explaining his support while giving the radio station listeners a truthful breakdown of the bill. The Employee “Free Choice” Act takes away the National Labor Relations Board’s 70 year policy of overseeing a private ballot election on unionization.

While out campaigning for cash in every state besides Maine, Tom Allen has heard through the grapevine that Mainers are finding out about his support for EFCA. The Employee Freedom Action Committee has been successful in educating voters on the consequences of EFCA and about Tom Allen’s sponsorship of that bill. Allen has countered not by explaining his support, but rather tip-toeing around the issue and by calling for his opponent, Senator Susan Collins, to denounce the truth. Neither option will make the facts about EFCA go away.

Listen to the clip here.

Chellie Pingree, Maine’s 1st district Congressional candidate, makes no secret she supports the Employee “Free Choice” Act. It is always easier to say you support something without letting your constituents know what the bill will actually do. The Employee “Free Choice” Act will take away a worker’s right to a private ballot, but Chellie dodges that question by saying it is more complicated. The bill, which is co-sponsored by Representative Tom Allen, coincidentally the seat Pingree is campaigning to take over, will make voting on whether to unionize a public showcase. With 92% of Mainers opposed to card-check, Big Labor funded politicians have to toe the line in their support for EFCA.

We will be looking forward to talking to Chellie Pingree more about the Employee “Free Choice” Act in the future.