December 8, 2006 

One Month and One Day after November 7,

Secret Ballot Elections are in Danger

Cleverly-Named Effort to Undermine Worker Rights to be Cheered by Activists at Rally Later Today

 

Dear Colleague:

 

If you’re reading this, you’ve been elected in a secret ballot election.  Exactly one month and one day ago today, in fact, representatives to the 110th Congress were elected by voters who took part in a process that is the very cornerstone of our democracy.  Regardless of how Republicans or Democrats feel about the results of that election, we share – at the very least – a deep belief in the common thread that unifies each of us:  the way in which our constituents elected us to serve them.

 

That common thread is not limited simply to Members of Congress or other elected public servants, however.  Rather, it extends to millions of Americans whom we represent here in Washington.  Under the National Labor Relations Act, rank-and-file workers have the right to join or organize a union in order to collectively bargain with their employer – a right I strongly support.  These rights are protected by secret-ballot elections – supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – to ensure they have the right to vote their conscience, without fear of reprisal.

 

Later today, activists seeking to undermine those rights are poised to descend upon Washington, cheering legislation that would end secret ballot organizing elections and replace them with a highly-controversial alternative.  This legislation – cleverly named the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1696) – would allow for the recognition of unions based on a “card-check” rather than the customary NLRB secret ballot election.  Under a “card check” system, union bosses gather “authorization cards” purportedly signed by workers expressing their desire for the union to represent them.  By their very nature, these “card checks” strip an employee of the right to choose – freely and anonymously – whether to unionize, while leaving them open to harassment, intimidation, and union pressure. 

 

In short, the Employee Free Choice Act gives workers anything but the opportunity for free choice.  Rather, that’s exactly what secret ballot elections would do – and what they have done since the founding of our democracy.

 

This legislation is expected to be a high priority for some in the 110th Congress.  As most of us prepare to take the oath of office in January, I hope you use the next few weeks as an opportunity to reflect on who sent us here – and in what fashion.  In the months ahead, we may be faced with legislation to strip them of the same protections we insist they have when they vote for their representatives to Congress.  Nothing could be more un-American than that. 

 

For more information on attempts to strip workers of the right to a secret ballot election – and the Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 874), legislation crafted to protect it – please visit: http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/109th/octresource/factsheetsecretballot092706.htm.

 

Sincerely,

/s/   Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA) Chairman Education & the Workforce Committee