EFCA what are we thinking allowing our ploticians to take our right to private ballots away from us? Even the speaker of the house is elected with a secret ballot. Our country was founded on secret ballots and now we want to let them take that away from us.

Employee Free Choice Act Effectively Eliminates Secret Ballot Organizing Elections
by James Sherk
Backgrounder #2175

Organized labor's highest legislative priority is the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). EFCA replaces secret ballot elections—the method by which most workers join unions—with publicly signed union cards. While eliminating secret ballots is extremely unpopular, many EFCA support­ers argue that the legislation merely gives workers the choice between organizing using secret ballots or pub­licly signed cards. This argument is false; nothing in the legislation gives workers any control over union organizing tactics. Though EFCA still allows for secret ballot elections under unusual circumstances, stan­dard union organizing tactics ensure that publicly signed union cards will dominate the recognition pro­cess. As a result, the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act effectively eliminates secret ballot elections.

The Current System

Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), workers may be organized in one of two ways: card-check recognition or secret ballot elections. To begin organizing workers, a union must solicit employee signatures on union authorization cards. Once the union has collected signatures from enough employ­ees—a minimum of 30 percent—the union submits the cards to the company and requests the company recognize the union. This process is called card-check recognition. Very few employers accept card-check as the sole means of recognition. Indeed, between 1998 and 2005 only 13 percent of new AFL-CIO members joined through card-check with­out an election.[1]

Employers routinely refuse to recognize unions on a card-check–only basis because publicly signed cards do not reflect employees' preferences. Public card signing exposes workers to pressure, harass­ment, and threats from the union.[2] Even union organizing guidebooks state that a worker's signa­ture on a union card does not mean that worker supports the union.[3]

It's another attempt by the union to gain control. Theys days there is something fundamentally wrong with unions when they find new ways to bully people into what they want.

I favor actual capitalism, meaning non-union

These days a lot of employers are getting smart and are finding ways of breaking the union's back. One is the 1099 making employees sign a labor contract that is renewed annually. This contract superceeds all others and makes the employee responsible for their own taxes and benefits absolving the employer of tax matching as well as other burdens but they still have to maintain Worker's Comp insurance. This means that if an employee is not panning out or performing as expected the employer can terminate them by not letting them sign up the next year's contract.

unions have dragged the American workplace into mediocrity and China since they do not allow unionization are killing us by taking away all of our manufacturing jobs. All the union leaders want is more dues and more money. They do not think a lick about being globally competitive and have proven to be detrimental to job security more than helping maintain job security by not driving the cost of keeping employees higher and higher. The Auto industry is classic of this. So is the Longshoreman's union. Why is shipping so expensive? Teamsters, Longshoremen, etc. all demanding what they call "fair" wages. When a Crane Operator is pulling down 100K a year and some jac*off in Detroit who does nothing more than put screws into cars is making $90 an hour no wonder Asia is killing us.

The unions need to reevaluate their position because the rate things are going in five years they are going to price themselves right out of work like they have been. Wanna ***** about all of our work going over seas? Who are you gonna blame, the government?
If they are the only one to blame that proves how short sighted people are. It has been between our Government and Organized Labor's greed. Businesses are in what they are in for making money. When the unions dry up profits and the government taxes the crap out of businesses they move to where they can make money. I was former UAW 148. When I lost my job they could not find me any work and to get to Union headquarters I had to drive a ridiculous distance to get to the union hall. Since I was not some 20 year member I was treated like I didn't exist. FU*K THE UAW 148! Hope you as* holes like not having any more work here in California since Aerospace has taken almost all of its manufacturing elsewhere and there are no more auto plants in California either!! And I was paying union dues to you jerks for what exactly???

I hope the secret ballot goes away for them! I hop[e the unions eventually dry up and go away! If they cannot adapt to the needs of the nation and maintaining a strong manufacturing base and helping keep our jobs they do not deserve to exist. I dare them to try and organize labor in China.

when unionizing a manufacturing facility in the US the only people that have any rules to follow are the employer the union has no gudelines and can strong arm anyone they feel like. This bill makes it so the union will be able to form w/o any vote in the plant just get signed cards and the card signing can be tricked upon the unknowing employee

bottom line never sign anything