One of the many obvious reasons for concluding that the so-called Employee Free Choice Act is not about free choice but is rather an effort to help unions dragoon more people into the dues-paying ranks is that it is not symmetrical. That is, while unions can use the “card check” procedure to establish a union in the first place, the workers can’t use the same procedure to end their relationship with a union. Instead, they have to petition for a decertification election, which is held under secret ballot conditions and after a period of time for both sides to make their arguments.
Doug Bandow discusses “card check” and decertification on NRO today.
The idea advanced by union zealots is that unionization always helps workers, but the fact that many of them go to the trouble of petitioning for decertification elections and then voting to oust the union is proof that that isn’t true.
By the way, while unions can and do organize campaigns to install themselves as bargaining representatives, it is illegal for the management to do anything to start or assist decertification campaigns. Only the workers can do that, and it takes some guts to publicly come out against the union.
The National Labor Relations Act has already stacked the deck in favor of unionization (for example, union organizers can promise anything, but the employer is allowed to promise nothing in exchange for keeping the union out) and this hideous bill would make matters far worse.
