LaborPains.org

Where will the National Labor Relations Board extend its tendrils next? Here’s your answer:

The National Labor Relations Board has threatened to sue the states of Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah over recently passed state constitutional amendments that require secret-ballot elections before a company can be unionized.

The board says the states can’t override federal law that gives workers the option of the so-called card-check method of organizing, which unions favor but many employers oppose. …

The amendments to the four states’ constitutions were approved Nov. 2 by voters in those states. The amendments have already taken effect in South Dakota and Utah and are expected to become effective soon in Arizona and South Carolina.

These amendments were never expected to hold up since they run smack into federal law. But they serve as a good bellwether for how strongly the public opposes mandatory card check. South Carolina’s amendment passed with 86 percent of the vote. South Dakota’s garnered 79 percent support. Likewise, the NLRB’s threat should serve as an indication of just how obsequious the board has become.

Image courtesy of jezarnold.

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.

A recent column by David Reinhard in the Oregonian highlights the problems behind the grossly mis-named “Employee Free Choice Act”.  This piece of legislation would strip workers of their right to a private ballot in the workplace when it comes to unionization.  Instead, workers would be subject to harassment, coercion and intimidation from union organizers who could come to their houses to “persuade” them to support union representation.

The article says it well enough but doesn’t point out that Jeff Merkley, candidate for U.S. Senate, supports this deceptive piece of legislation wholeheartedly.  What’s worse, when confronted about the issue, he tries to either steer the conversation away from answering the question or avoid the question entirely.

When will Jeff Merkley honestly answer why he wants to take away a worker’s right to a private ballot?  Until he does, we can only assume that it’s because Big Labor Union Bosses, who are funding his campaign, know that it’s a bad bill and don’t want him to say anything.  Putting money in their own pockets seems to be the most important thing.

Read part of the article for yourself:

OK, you want to talk issues. You’re tired of talking personalities, character, experience and Sarah Palin’s eyewear. You’ve had it contemplating whether Barack Obama’s or John McCain’s campaign ads are more full of lies and distortions. You’re above all this bunkum. You want to talk about some substantive difference between the two presidential candidates that could shape the way we live — that could alter some basic American value — in the decades to come.

So here’s the issue. It’s a big one that’s below the surface and not getting a lot of attention, and it’s not the racial issue. It’s called card check.

Read more…………..

Jeff Merkley has become very good at the political two-step. Asked a question, he gives a response seemingly related to but not really answering the query.

In the clip below, Mr. Merkley was approached and asked a question about the issues. Specifically, whether it was hypocritical for Mr. Merkley to accuse Senator Gordon Smith of taking money from special interests like “big oil” (a favorite Democrat boogeyman) in exchange for voting for their bills when Merkley himself has taken tens of thousands over his career in exchange for supporting the union-sponsored and grossly mis-named Employee Free Choice Act?

First, a little background: The Employee Free Choice Act, or card check legislation as it is also known, would take away workers’ right to a private ballot in the workplace when voting to unionize. Union organizers would instead pass out cards indicating whether workers wanted to have the union represent them.

Stop and think about that for just a minute. Everyone where you work would know whether you support unionization. No private ballots to avoid intimidation, coercion or threats by the Union Bosses and their hired thugs. They could even come to your home to “persuade” you to vote for unionization.

That’s right, the party that claims to be about big “D” Democracy is all for taking it away when it serves their purposes for increasing union membership and boosting the campaign coffers of politicians like Jeff Merkley.

This piece of legislation is one that Big Labor and the Union Bosses are pushing particularly hard this year. Last session in Congress, it passed the Democrat-controlled House but stalled (thankfully) in the Senate. Union Bosses know that this year, they have a slim chance to win some desperately needed Senate seats in places like Oregon.

So, they are pumping millions of out-of-state dollars (dollars forcibly taken from union members) into races like Jeff Merkley’s in the hopes that they can smear Senator Gordon Smith and cover up the fact that Jeff Merkley supports their despicable bill. A bill that takes away the fundamental American right to a private ballot.

Even George McGovern, a self-described friend to labor unions, is against the Employee Free Choice Act.

Back to Mr. Merkley’s response. He tries to pass off some dribble about supporting workers’ rights and is disappointed in Senator Smith for voting for tax increases to ship jobs overseas. Then, in order to avoid looking even more foolish, he quickly thanks the voter and walks away.

At least he took the time to listen to the question this time.

Leaving us to wonder, why won’t he just answer the question honestly? Is it because he knows that he’s being a hypocrite? Is it because he responds to questions like a Raggedy Andy doll: “Pull my string once for a canned response about Iraq, pull my string twice for a rehearsed response about jobs in Oregon, pull my string three times for my re-hashed diatribe on linking Gordon Smith and George Bush.”

It would be nice if for once, Mr. Merkley would just answer the question he is asked instead of making up a question in his head and then giving us that answer.

Speaker Jeff Merkley recently ran away from a voter who just wanted to ask him a question about his support from Big Labor Union Bosses and if it unduly influenced his decision to support the grossly mis-named Employee Free Choice Act.  The Employee Free Choice Act, or “card-check”, would take away a worker’s right to a private ballot in the workplace when voting whether to unionize and open workers up to intimidation, coercion and threats by union organizers.

The voter wasn’t even able to get the question in as Speaker Merkley jaywalks across the street and quickly slithers into his car to get away. Apparently, Mr. Merkley is uncomfortable answering questions from real voters who want real answers on why he would support legislation that takes away a worker’s right to a private ballot in the workplace.

At a recent event where the Grim Reaper showed up to remind people that Jeff Merkley is killing democracy with his support of the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act, a spectator at the event tried to reason with Mr. Merkley. The Employee Free Choice Act, or “card-check” legislation, is a bill that is being pushed by big labor union bosses and the politicians they are buying in order to make it easier for unions to organize. The bill would take away a fundamental American right; a workers right to a private ballot in the workplace.

The gentleman first tries to point out to Mr. Merkley that if he were a better man than the Grim Reaper, then maybe Merkley should leave. Assuming that if Mr. Merkley leaves the Grim Reaper will follow, the gentleman continues to try and explain his reasoning. He ends by trying to point out to Mr. Merkley that if he really wants people to vote for him and that if he wants to represent these people then he should leave and the Grim Reaper will follow.

Being the better man of the two, the Grim Reaper decides to walk away and leave Mr. Merkley to try and explain why he didn’t leave and why he supports killing democracy in the workplace.

Even though Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley has been told that “Death” or the Grim Reaper is not affiliated with the Gordon Smith campaign, he repeatedly and knowingly makes this false assertion to potential voters.

In this clip, Mr. Merkley tries to tell people that the Grim Reaper is with an anti-union group, which is also untrue. Oregonians for Employee Freedom is actually very pro-worker, fighting hard to make sure that workers’ right are protected in the workplace by ensuring they have a private ballot when voting to unionize

Mr. Merkley seems very uncomfortable with the truth coming out about his support for the grossly mis-named Employee Free Choice Act, a bill sponsored by big labor unions to make it easier for them to organize by taking away workers right to a private ballot in the workplace.

Union membership has been steadily declining in recent years and Big Labor has made it a point to buy politicians like Jeff Merkley with campaign contributions to support this bill. Unable to fairly compete with employers, Big Labor has chosen instead to take away a fundamental American right, that of every citizen to a private ballot, to try and bolster their numbers.

Politicians like Jeff Merkley, in the pocket of union bosses, will say whatever those union bosses tell them to in order to keep the money flowing, even to the point of lying to deceive potential voters.If Jeff Merkley will say and do anything to get elected now, what kind of deception will he practice if he gets elected?

Recently, Jeff Merkley was approached on the campaign trail and asked about the Employee Free Choice Act and the elimination of the private ballot for workers in deciding whether to unionize.

In true Jeff Merkley characteristic fashion, he tried to deflect the question and make it about whether workers should be allowed to unionize. At one point in the video below, he accuses the questioner of having a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the issue.

It appears that Mr. Merkley is the one who has a fundamental misunderstanding as he fails to recognize that it is not the workers who will have a choice under the grossly mis-named Employee Free Choice Act, but rather the union organizers and big labor bosses who will decide whether to use a private ballot or card check.

Union bosses and their organizers prefer card check because it means they know exactly how people are going to vote. For anyone who doesn’t agree with joining the union, they are more open to threats, intimidation and undue pressure by other co-workers, union organizers and even their supervisors. Workers can even be visited in their homes by union organizers so that the organizers can “persuade” workers that a union is the right thing to do in their workplace.

Jeff Merkley dodged the question of eliminating the private ballot because he knows that his position is indefensible. Once it became clear that the questioner wouldn’t settle for his answer (which had nothing to do with the question), Mr. Merkley decided to extract himself from the situation and get in his car to leave.

Oregonians are left to wonder: Why won’t Jeff Merkley answer the question? Why does Jeff Merkley believe that it’s okay to disenfranchise workers in America and Oregon by taking away their right to a private ballot in the workplace when deciding to unionize? Finally, if Mr. Merkley believes that taking away the private ballot for workers is okay; does he also believe that the right to a private ballot should be taken away from Oregonians in other elections as well?