Why is a Union like a Roach Motel?

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Labor officials try to lure employees into unionization with a simple (but unfair) process of signing a card, but then turn around and demand a formal election for employees to get rid of bad unions.

True secret ballot elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board are clearly recognized as the most democratic means of choosing unionization. The D.C. Court of Appeals said in 1991 that “Freedom of choice is a matter at the very center of our national labor relations policy, and a secret election is the preferred method of gauging choice.” And the Miami Herald recently editorialized that “the best chance for fairness consists of taking an accurate count by secret ballot, a staple of our democratic system.” But unions chiefs only want these elections, which take time and effort to schedule and administer, when employees want to decertify unions.

Meanwhile, unions try to gain new members through a process of signing cards. “Card check” campaigns are just one element of a two-part strategy that union officials use to avoid fair elections. First, union officials force employers (through boycotts, pickets, and demonizing a company's brand through expensive public relations campaigns) to accept “neutrality” agreements. Under this agreement, the business gives up its right to ask for a secret ballot election and recognizes a union if enough employees sign cards. The union then moves on to the second part of its strategy, in which it seeks employee signatures on cards. But as they collect these signatures, union organizers too often harass and intimidate employees, who lose their right to a personal, private vote because of the previously agreed-to “neutrality agreement” their employer was harassed into signing.

If union officials believed so much in their “card check” method, why won't they let union members use the same technique to escape?