In an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal of August 8, former Senator George McGovern, a man who has had a long career supporting organized labor, announced that he is against The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would do away with secret ballot elections to determine if workers can join unions. Organized labor and most Democrats support the EFCA, which would permit workers to sign cards indicating that they want to join unions. Of course, the cards would be presented by union organizers, who would pressure workers to add their signatures. No secret ballot elections would be necessary.
Senator McGovern wrote: “Under the EFCA, workers would lose the freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder[s], from fear or reprisal….We cannot be a party [the Democrats] that strips working Americans of the right to a secret-ballot election….To fail to ensure the right to vote free of intimidation and coercion from all sides would be a betrayal of what we have always championed….I think much of the of the congressional support is based on a desire to give our friends among union leaders what they want. But part of being a good steward of democracy means telling our friends ‘no’ when they press for a course that in the long run may… disrupt a tried an trusted method of conducting honest elections.”
It is remarkable and heartening to read Senator McGovern’s cogent argument against The Employee Free Choice Act, and one can only that his friends in the Democratic party not only heed his warning, but also have the courage to stand up to unreasonable and undemocratic union demands.
