Secrets Are No Fun for Unions
- From: "Brad Naylor" <brad_naylor@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:24:29 -0400
Secrets Are No Fun for Unions
Scott Bensing
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
http://townhall.com/Columnists/ScottBensing/2008/08/20/secrets_are_no_fun_for_unions
Who are you voting for this fall? The answer to that question is none of my
business. In fact, it is a fundamental American right to have your vote be
as private as you wish. Unfortunately, Democrats and their financiers, Big
Labor, want to abolish a worker?s fundamental, American right to a secret
ballot.
Why are they doing this? Maybe because Democrats have openly admitted they
owe their 2006 electoral success to Big Labor and have promised the
elimination of the secret ballot as a return on investment. That is why
during this Congressional session every Democrat in the House and Senate
voted to abolish the secret ballot. Thankfully, Republicans in the Senate
were able to stop this disastrous bill.
This is a moment when hyperbole is unnecessary. This unprecedented power
grab by Big Labor and the willingness of Democrats to ignore such a
fundamental American right threatens the very nature of our system of
government.
Unions already spend hundreds of millions of dollars to influence elections.
Imagine what they could do when entire industries are unwillingly coerced
into joining a union and forced to pay dues ? dues earmarked for the next
election cycle.
In fact, alleged coercion for political gain is already occurring. Recently,
The Wall Street Journal reported that the National Right to Work Legal
Defense Foundation asked the Department of Justice to investigate the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The basis for the request
centers on this fact:
?The union adopted a new amendment to its constitution at last month's SEIU
convention, requiring that every local contribute an amount equal to $6 per
member per year to the union's national political action committee. This is
in addition to regular union dues. Unions that fail to meet the requirement
must contribute an amount in ?local union funds? equal to the ?deficiency?
plus a 50% penalty.? (The Wall Street Journal, 7/28/08)
Can you name any other company or organization that could compel its
membership to fund political organizations that rank and file membership may
or may not agree with? As I said earlier, hyperbole is not needed on this
issue. With November approaching, a potential Barack Obama administration
promising to ?play some offense for organized labor? and Democrats?
determination to eliminate the secret ballot, the need for a robust
Republican presence in the Senate has never been greater.
So important is eliminating the secret ballot to Big Labor that a few weeks
ago Democrat Senate candidates, Reps. Tom Allen (ME), Tom Udall (NM), and
Mark Udall (CO), along with Kay Hagan (NC), Bruce Lunsford (KY), Jeanne
Shaheen (NH), and Jeff Merkley (OR) all scurried to Chicago for a meeting
when Union bosses beckoned. The three current Congressmen already voted to
eliminate the secret ballot and likely, along with the other Democrat
candidates in Chicago, pledged to eliminate secret ballot elections in the
future as well.
Are such promises to Big Labor leaders representative of the will of the
people? Absolutely not! Amazingly, Democrats don?t seem to care that their
agenda flies in the face of public opinion. More than 85% of Americans
oppose eliminating the secret ballot and even the media, across all
political spectrums, has editorialized against such legislation.
?Abuses of workers? true wishes not only are potential, they are
guaranteed. There is no ?free choice? in this travesty, clearly a payoff to
union leaders who contributed so handsomely to the Democrats? November
election victory.? (The San Francisco Examiner, 02/16/07)
?Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided to hold a vote this
Wednesday on perhaps the most unpopular element of the Democratic agenda?
Under the so-called card-check bill, a company would no longer have the
right to demand a secret-ballot election to certify a union, thus stripping
140 million American workers of the right to decide in private whether to
organize.? (The Wall Street Journal, 6/18/07)
Democrats continue to oppose the will of the people, instead working to
reward Big Labor. In fact, this issue is so far out of the mainstream that
even ultra-liberal former Democrat Senator and Vice Presidential candidate
George McGovern has publicly opposed this legislation.
Additionally, elimination of the secret ballot will be the second payback
for Big Labor, since Democrats already cut funding to the federal agency
tasked with investigating union corruption. Without Republicans in the
Senate to stop them, what fundamental right will Democrats eliminate next at
the behest of their financial supporters?
This fall when you go to the polls, the choice is clear (and private); the
choice is Republican.
.
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