Pro-union act becomes issue in Senate race
Udall backed bill; Schaffer opposes failed measure
By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News
Published October 7, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
A once-buried proposal to change how union elections are held is rearing its head in Colorado's U.S. Senate race.
The Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007, but Democratic backers couldn't end a Republican filibuster against it in the Senate.
Democrat Mark Udall backs the act and Republican Bob Schaffer doesn't, making Colorado one of about eight states where dueling groups could spend a combined $40 million nationally to highlight issues raised in the legislation.
Employees at private companies now can unionize by getting 30 percent of the work force to sign cards seeking union representation and then getting a majority of workers to back unionization in a secret-ballot election.
The EFCA would allow unionization without a secret- ballot vote if more than half of the workers sign the cards.
Intimidation issue
Republicans argue that eliminating the need for a secret ballot and going to a so-called card-check system could lead to intimidation of workers by union organizers who will know where an employee stands on unionization.
Union leaders say there is intimidation now: 25 percent of employers fire pro-union workers during organizing drives and 51 percent threaten to close the work site if the vote passes, according to the pro- union group American Rights at Work.
Both sides agree the change could sharply increase the number of unionized companies.
Only about 7 percent of Colorado's work force is unionized now. Card-check elections could create more than 10 million new union members nationwide over the next decade, said Tim Miller of the anti-union Employee Freedom Action Committee.
Miller said this would translate to tens of millions of dollars more going to unions, which would flood the coffers of pro-union candidates and be spent lobbying legislators.
ARAW spokesman Josh Goldstein said that because union workers earn 30 percent more than non-union counterparts and are 63 percent more likely to have job-provided health care, the law is needed.
Both sides airing ads
The anti-union EFAC is airing ads opposing the legislation and against Udall's support of it. ARAW is running cable television spots supporting the legislation and the union- backed Patriot Majority Fund is running ads criticizing Schaffer for not supporting it.
Udall, an Eldorado Springs congressman, said in floor debate last year that he had "serious reservations about lessening the role of the secret ballot in union elections." He backed the bill, however, because the National Labor Relations Board had consistently sided with companies that worked to make it difficult for workers to unionize and he believed the law would help workers.
Schaffer, a former Fort Collins congressman, is "strongly opposed" to the bill because taking away the secret ballot would strike at the heart of the American political system, said campaign manager Dick Wadhams.
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October 8, 2008
6:33 p.m.
Suggest removal
rockiesfan05 writes:
Great job by the Rocky for picking this story up. It has gotten buried this year by all of the state-level Union talk, but in reality, this is far more sweeping legislation. The fact that union organizers will merely have to have 50% of a workplace sign a card (whether they know or not what they are signing) is just plain crazy. No wonder the Dems and the unions are pushing so hard...they will take over the country in no time if this passes!
October 8, 2008
8:28 p.m.
Suggest removal
dbrown writes:
Taking away the secret ballot is an outrage. No surprise that U-turn Udall initially had reservations about EFCA but then changed his stance.
October 14, 2008
4:26 p.m.
Suggest removal
jestbill writes:
As I read it, if the union gets 30% the company will refuse to recognize that union. They then go to the NLRB and ask for an election that they'll expect to win 60%+ of the time.
In the mean time, since the signatures on the cards are public information, the company can fire everyone involved or close the plant. That may be why the unions only win 60% of the time.
Under the new law the union can skip the election if they get over 50% of the workers to sign up. The cards are public under both the old and new systems.
If the Rocky were doing such a great job, they'd publish figures on how many union elections are won by the unions if they get 50% on the public cards. For all we know, they win 100% and the law is just skipping an unnecessary step.