The union card-check bill was introduced in Congress last week, and backers are making another big push in a bid to win passage.
The measure, still bearing the grossly misleading title "Employee Free Choice Act," passed the House in 2007 and failed in the Senate. Here's hoping it dies again.
Organized labor's efforts to mislead people about this legislation go well beyond the semantic games played in the title.
In recent months, supporters have accused critics of wrongly saying the measure would effectively do away with the secret ballot in elections to create unions. A group called American Rights at Work says opponents of the bill are engaging in "lies and distortions."
"Greedy CEOs and their front groups have pushed a deceptive campaign to divert attention away from the actual substance of the bill and what it seeks to accomplish," the group says. "Contrary to their assertions, the Employee Free Choice Act does not take away the secret ballot in union elections."
But in practice, that's exactly what it would do.
The bill would allow union bargaining units to be formed once organizers collect cards signed by a majority of employees in a workplace.
Backers say the measure simply gives workers a choice between organizing by card-check, or by a secret-ballot election, which is the practice under current law. If at least 30 percent of workers want an election, they could still get one.
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