“The bill doesn’t remove the secret-ballot option from the National Labor Relations Act…”

Hmm… Here’s that sentence again, without the SEIU’s editing:

“The bill doesn’t remove the secret-ballot option from the National Labor Relations Act but in practice makes it a dead letter.“

Notice a difference? I thought so. The fact that the unions are still clinging to the 30-50 myth is a reflection of their casual relationship with the truth. In case you’re still not sure EFCA ends elections, just read the bill itself:

If the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations designating the individual or labor organization specified in the petition as their bargaining representative and that no other individual or labor organization is currently certified or recognized as the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the unit, the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization as the representative described in subsection (a). [emphasis added]

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.

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…………..

In it, we are reminded that “According to Big Labor’s logic, employees can only have a “free choice” when union officials stand over them and pressure them to sign the cards.   Employees who have been subjected to card check union drives have complained they have signed the cards as a result of coercion and deceptive practices.”

Jeff Merkley is running on a platform of supposedly helping the working man but what help is it really going to be when he has promised to help pass this deceptively-named piece of legislation?

How can Jeff Merkley run for office in an election where his supporters will have anonymity and protection of privacy to vote for whomever they choose and yet still support an act that would strip workers of their rights to a private ballot in the workplace?

Jeff Merkley has been wrong about a lot of things this campaign season including the Employee Free Choice Act, his opponent, and the State of Georgia.

What Jeff Merkley really needs apparently, is more time to look into his support for an issue that strips workers of their rights when he supports those same rights for people voting for him. 

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.