Unions to Workers, Do Not Vote Against Us.
Written by on June 10, 2011, 03:29 PM
By Katie O'Malley
My grandfather was a union-supporting Congressman back when unions were cool, when they were useful, when they were more interested in protecting workers while aiding economic prosperity in a free-market system rather than delivering votes and expanding union coffers. Today, I think he would shudder at what unions have become and would be disheartened by their goal of building political—rather than economic—capital. Modern unions seem more focused on delivering votes than delivering products and services.
Remember the days when unions kept big fat cigar-smoking capitalist pigs from employing children and keeping employees in firetraps? Like early feminism, early unions were useful. They provided a voice to abuses and inequity. But also like feminism, at some point they stopped being about what they said they were about and, drunk with power, became about the very power they rail against.
Not all unions are bad, not all of them have jumped the shark. But the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (also referred to as the “card-check bill”) is less about the welfare of union workers and more about enhancing the financial and political capital of union leaders. Does anyone else see irony in that? A group that fought against the abuse of power and the stifling of the voice of the common man is now attempting to emulate the very injustices that gave birth to their movement.
The card-check bill allows employees to form a union by collecting a majority of cards signed by workers supporting the unionization of their employer’s business. Current law provides an election once a simple majority of workers submit cards requesting union certification. The subsequent election is then held and workers vote by secret ballot and the ultimate question of “to unionize or not to unionize” is a private matter.
Removing the secret ballot allows union leaders to know to a man/woman how each worker has voted. So now, instead of the big, fat cigar puffing capitalist pig looking to see who is trying to “wreck” his business by unionizing, union leaders and their lackeys know who is standing in the way of their attempts to build the political capital they need to get what they want from politicians and who is depriving them of more union dues. At least in the “old days” the capitalist pig robber baron hid in his office for most of the day (when he wasn’t on his yacht).
Under the new rules, those who vote against union leaders have the singular joy of working alongside the people they have voted against. That is kinda like telling Tony Soprano that you prefer not to give your monthly “dues” to him and then having to hang with him all day long.
The unions, true to their desire for political capital rather than what is best for workers or their community, only want to loosen the regulations that benefit them. Why not support a card check/right to work combo if you are all about giving individuals the right to work and run businesses.
When we vote in political elections, we have a secret ballot. We have long nurtured the importance that secret ballots have for a functioning democracy and yet somehow they “hurt” democracy only in context of a union election?
I can almost see the conversation in the break room. “Hey Joe. How’s it going? How are Cindy and the kids? Little Joey make the varsity? You know my Mary is getting ready for first grade. Can you sign this union card? Whatta mean no? You trying to make it hard for me to take care of Mary? Man, we are bros…bros look out for each other. And ya know, if you don’t sign, well, that would make things pretty uncomfortable around here. I mean how would Cindy feel at the PTA meetings if this got out that you were trying to keep things from the other families here. You sure you don’t want to sign the card?”
If one tried to assume that unions were a critical component in job safety and fiscal success, one only need look at the US auto industry…100% unionized, losing billions and prostrating themselves in front of Congress begging for dollars. The only consistent money makers in the auto industry are the unions themselves who continue to collect dues and make millions.
The Save our Secret Ballot (SOS Ballot) has announced efforts to place a secret ballot constitutional amendment in GA, OK, SC, SD ND, AR, AZ, MO, NV and UT in with the expectation that additional states will follow.
Written by attorney and constitutional scholar Clint Bolick, the amendment says in part:
"The right of individuals to vote by secret ballot is fundamental. Where state or federal law requires elections for public office or public votes on initiatives or referenda, or designations or authorizations of employee representation, the right of individuals to vote by secret ballot shall be guaranteed."
National Coordinator of SOS Ballot, Tim Mooney, remarks, “SOS Ballot opposes voter intimidation whether it comes from Union bosses or Management bosses. With a secret ballot, the voter is the boss.”
"The Unions say they're not taking away the right of a secret ballot. So let's see if they support making a secret ballot a protected constitutional right. Individuals should be guaranteed a secret ballot whether we're choosing your representative to the state legislature, your representative to Congress, or your representative at your place of employment."
In efforts to muddy the issue, the President of the Utah AFL-CIO suggests that Save our Secret Ballot is "deceptively named” and says that secret ballot elections are "bureaucracy-laden" and "anti-democratic." I guess he has never voted in a Saddam Hussein style “open” election.
Mooney reminds us, "America has used the secret ballot for exactly half our history—117 years. The secret ballot is a civil right implemented because of former slaves being threatened with physical harm, even lynching, if they voted ‘the wrong way.’ Grover Cleveland was the first president elected by secret ballot in 1892. Why would we want to go back to the days of intimidation when voting. Let's constitutionally guarantee secret ballot rights."
Why indeed….
For more information on Save Our Secret Ballot visit:
http://www.sosballot.org/
My grandfather was a union-supporting Congressman back when unions were cool, when they were useful, when they were more interested in protecting workers while aiding economic prosperity in a free-market system rather than delivering votes and expanding union coffers. Today, I think he would shudder at what unions have become and would be disheartened by their goal of building political—rather than economic—capital. Modern unions seem more focused on delivering votes than delivering products and services.
Remember the days when unions kept big fat cigar-smoking capitalist pigs from employing children and keeping employees in firetraps? Like early feminism, early unions were useful. They provided a voice to abuses and inequity. But also like feminism, at some point they stopped being about what they said they were about and, drunk with power, became about the very power they rail against.
Not all unions are bad, not all of them have jumped the shark. But the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (also referred to as the “card-check bill”) is less about the welfare of union workers and more about enhancing the financial and political capital of union leaders. Does anyone else see irony in that? A group that fought against the abuse of power and the stifling of the voice of the common man is now attempting to emulate the very injustices that gave birth to their movement.
The card-check bill allows employees to form a union by collecting a majority of cards signed by workers supporting the unionization of their employer’s business. Current law provides an election once a simple majority of workers submit cards requesting union certification. The subsequent election is then held and workers vote by secret ballot and the ultimate question of “to unionize or not to unionize” is a private matter.
Removing the secret ballot allows union leaders to know to a man/woman how each worker has voted. So now, instead of the big, fat cigar puffing capitalist pig looking to see who is trying to “wreck” his business by unionizing, union leaders and their lackeys know who is standing in the way of their attempts to build the political capital they need to get what they want from politicians and who is depriving them of more union dues. At least in the “old days” the capitalist pig robber baron hid in his office for most of the day (when he wasn’t on his yacht).
Under the new rules, those who vote against union leaders have the singular joy of working alongside the people they have voted against. That is kinda like telling Tony Soprano that you prefer not to give your monthly “dues” to him and then having to hang with him all day long.
The unions, true to their desire for political capital rather than what is best for workers or their community, only want to loosen the regulations that benefit them. Why not support a card check/right to work combo if you are all about giving individuals the right to work and run businesses.
When we vote in political elections, we have a secret ballot. We have long nurtured the importance that secret ballots have for a functioning democracy and yet somehow they “hurt” democracy only in context of a union election?
I can almost see the conversation in the break room. “Hey Joe. How’s it going? How are Cindy and the kids? Little Joey make the varsity? You know my Mary is getting ready for first grade. Can you sign this union card? Whatta mean no? You trying to make it hard for me to take care of Mary? Man, we are bros…bros look out for each other. And ya know, if you don’t sign, well, that would make things pretty uncomfortable around here. I mean how would Cindy feel at the PTA meetings if this got out that you were trying to keep things from the other families here. You sure you don’t want to sign the card?”
If one tried to assume that unions were a critical component in job safety and fiscal success, one only need look at the US auto industry…100% unionized, losing billions and prostrating themselves in front of Congress begging for dollars. The only consistent money makers in the auto industry are the unions themselves who continue to collect dues and make millions.
The Save our Secret Ballot (SOS Ballot) has announced efforts to place a secret ballot constitutional amendment in GA, OK, SC, SD ND, AR, AZ, MO, NV and UT in with the expectation that additional states will follow.
Written by attorney and constitutional scholar Clint Bolick, the amendment says in part:
"The right of individuals to vote by secret ballot is fundamental. Where state or federal law requires elections for public office or public votes on initiatives or referenda, or designations or authorizations of employee representation, the right of individuals to vote by secret ballot shall be guaranteed."
National Coordinator of SOS Ballot, Tim Mooney, remarks, “SOS Ballot opposes voter intimidation whether it comes from Union bosses or Management bosses. With a secret ballot, the voter is the boss.”
"The Unions say they're not taking away the right of a secret ballot. So let's see if they support making a secret ballot a protected constitutional right. Individuals should be guaranteed a secret ballot whether we're choosing your representative to the state legislature, your representative to Congress, or your representative at your place of employment."
In efforts to muddy the issue, the President of the Utah AFL-CIO suggests that Save our Secret Ballot is "deceptively named” and says that secret ballot elections are "bureaucracy-laden" and "anti-democratic." I guess he has never voted in a Saddam Hussein style “open” election.
Mooney reminds us, "America has used the secret ballot for exactly half our history—117 years. The secret ballot is a civil right implemented because of former slaves being threatened with physical harm, even lynching, if they voted ‘the wrong way.’ Grover Cleveland was the first president elected by secret ballot in 1892. Why would we want to go back to the days of intimidation when voting. Let's constitutionally guarantee secret ballot rights."
Why indeed….
For more information on Save Our Secret Ballot visit:
http://www.sosballot.org/
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