Union backing in Arkansas a touchy subject
Arkansas’ Senate seat is just one battle ground against moderate Democrats who have not lived up to Big Labor’s EFCA expectations. Lt. Gov. Bill Halter released a press statement detailing more than $500,000 in campaign contributions by labor groups to Blanche Lincoln. The same release calls Blanche’s accusations that Halter’s debt has been paid off to [more...]

Posted Mon, 15 Mar 2010 .

Prison Guards in Pennsylvania vote against unionizing
Pennsylvania is such a union stronghold, it naturally caught my eye when Chester County guards voted down the union by a wide margin. The “Chester County Corrections Officers Independent Union” would have been associated with the Teamsters Local 312, who was “ecstatic” and “anxious” at the prospect of the guards forming a union. From The [more...]

Posted Fri, 12 Mar 2010 .

Democracy Deficit

Unions vs. Elections
Legal recognition of a union has traditionally been achieved through secret ballot elections, in which each worker decides whether or not to support a union in the privacy of the voting booth -- just like a person votes for the President or a Senator. But unions frequently lose secret ballot elections. So they often bring intense pressure on companies to agree to a “card check” system instead of a secret election.
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(Card) Check Democracy at the Door
Welcome to the new world of union organizing, where union officials, desperate to stave off declining membership numbers, are increasingly turning to undemocratic “card check campaigns” to organize and collect dues from employees.
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Poor Election Records
Bruce Raynor, president of the union UNITE HERE, explains: “There's no reason to subject the workers to an election.” One SEIU local leader has flatly admitted, “We don't do elections.” And no wonder. Employees have chosen no representation at all in more than 2,000 elections over a two-year period.
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We don't do elections.

— SEIU Local 32BJ leader Mike Fishman