Lawmakers spar over union ballots
By Bill Cotterell
Organized labor and business interests squared off Thursday as two Republican legislators offered a constitutional amendment aimed at nullifying a major union bill in Congress.
The Employee Free Choice Act is a top priority of organized labor and Democrats in Congress, with the new Obama Administration in power. It would allow "voluntary" recognition of unions when a majority of employees in a work unit sign cards calling for an election on labor representation, rather than letting management require a secret balloting.
State Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, and House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, introduced a constitutional amendment assuring the right of voter privacy in all such union elections. If adopted by three-fifths majorities of the House and Senate in the 2009 legislative session, the proposal (HJR 1013) will be on the ballot next year, requiring a 60-percent public majority for adoption.
"The ability to privately make a choice removes the influence of intimidation," Richter said at a news conference. "All citizens should be able to express their decision without fear of retribution."
Hasner predicted easy passage for the amendment, both in the Republican-controlled Legislature and by the public at the polls next year.
"This is not an anti-union bill," said Hasner. "Harassment and intimidation are wrong, whether they come from a union boss or a management boss. With a secret ballot, you're the boss."
AFL-CIO spokesman Rich Templin said the Employee Free Choice Act would not deny workers a secret ballot, but would end a tilt toward management in the conduct of union elections.
Templin said that if 30 percent of a workforce signs cards seeking union representation, there can be a secret election and if 50 percent sign up, an employer has a choice of accepting those cards as tantamount to recognition of the union or pressing ahead with a secret ballot on labor representation.
"There is absolutely nothing that takes the secret ballot out of this process," said Templin. "The process has been hijacked by corporate interests."
The Florida Chamber of Commerce defended the Hasner-Richter amendment.
"An emboldened labor movement is pushing an aggressive activist agenda that would impose new and costly regulations on businesses, disrupt the ways businesses are run and stifle our economy," said Dan Krassner, the Chamber's strategy and communication director.