The so-called Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "Card Check", is on the agenda again in Washington. The Heritage Foundation has a clear and concise summary of this bill and its implications which you can read here.
Susan Eckerly, senior vice president, public policy for the National Federation of Independent Business, said this about the bill:
"For small business owners, it's a nightmare to see this bill resurrected from the grave in which the last Congress rightly laid it to rest.
"The Employee Free Choice Act will not only subvert a long-standing democratic process, it's an attempt to overturn more than 60 years of established labor law. The last thing small business owners need is a government official stepping to dictate the wages and benefits they offer their employees.
"It's also difficult to understand the union claim that this law is needed to 'level the playing field,' when unions have won an average of nearly 60 percent of the union elections held since 2000.
"This can only be interpreted as an attack on our country's principal job creators and therefore, the economy as a whole. This was a bad bill in 2007 and the ensuing years haven't made it any more palatable. NFIB and its members will do everything in our power to defeat it again."
Rep. Sam Graves of the House Small Business Committee responded to the introduction of the legislation by saying:
"Card Check throws the secret ballot and privacy rights out the door for workers." said Graves. "I agree with Warren Buffett that the secret ballot is a fundamental American principle. Washington should be focused on creating and preserving jobs, not passing legislation that will cost more workers their jobs."
"Card Check" would allow labor unions to be created after a simple majority of workers have publicly signed authorization cards, and possibly without business owners having been notified. Without the secret ballot, workers could face coercion to vote in a particular way. For small businesses "Card Check" threatens their ability to create jobs. Further, the "Card Check" legislation would allow government bureaucrats to set working conditions and kill the entrepreneurial spirit.
"I continue to be amazed by the further attacks on job creation and small business at a time when our economy is in a tailspin. I will not support legislation that kills jobs for Americans, and threatens small business owners. Many small businesses are already operating on razor-thin profit margins, the "Card Check" legislation would have a devastating impact on employers that are already struggling to make ends meet."
The attacks on the free market system are making our heads spin. I hope that we don't all succumb to battle fatigue.
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