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Take Action Against Card Check Legislation

With the elections over and a new administration and Congress in Washington, unions are poised to push an aggressive anti-jobs agenda early in the New Year. Top on Big Labor’s list is the “card check” bill, which is grossly misnamed the “Employee Free Choice Act” – even though it takes away employees’ right to make a private choice about representation in the workplace “free” from inappropriate pressure from either side.

The card check bill would eliminate secret-ballot elections in the workplace and replace them with a union-preferred method of recruiting members where employees are asked to support or join unions in front of their co-workers, union officials and others. Under a card check system, if union representatives and supporters can get 50 percent of employees at a workplace to sign cards to unionize, then the workplace is automatically unionized without an election or the oversight of a neutral party (the National Labor Relations Board oversees the current system of secret-ballot elections).

Big Labor is optimistic about the legislation’s prospects because President-elect Obama was a sponsor of the bill when he was in the US Senate and has made it clear that he will support the bill as President and sign it into law if Congress passes it. In fact, unions are so enthusiastic about card check’s chances of passing that they are expected to push for its enactment in the first 100 days of the new administration.

Perhaps no piece of legislation in recent history has been as big a threat to American competitiveness or jobs in our state than the card check bill. The card check bill is about increasing unionization in our state and country, which will raise the cost of doing business and erode our competitive position nationally and globally. For North Carolina, the least unionized state in the nation, card check would mean we lose a significant competitive advantage in attracting good jobs and business investment to our state. Part of North Carolina’s success when it comes to economic development and growth has been our low rate of unionization. If this legislation passes, it will be easier for states rampant with unions to compete with North Carolina and other states like us where unions have not been able to take root and grow.

Beyond the fact that the card check bill throws away the fundamental American right to a secret-ballot vote, the legislation would also impose government arbiters when unions and employers don’t reach a settlement within 120 days. The legislation takes away any incentive for unions to negotiate reasonably because in the absence of an agreement, government arbiters step in and take away employers’ rights to make important, far-reaching decisions about their businesses. Employers are hamstrung in subsequent negotiations, too, because they will be in the position of negotiating the removal of a contact provision where unions are not likely or obligated to agree.

Tell Congress why Card Check is Wrong for NC

Because the card check bill being pushed by unions is likely to be one of the first pieces of legislation dealt with by Congress in January, our elected representatives in the US House and Senate must hear from our members that this bill is bad for business and bad for North Carolina. The North Carolina Chamber and a growing number of coalition partners opposed to card check sent a letter to all of the members of North Carolina’s Congressional delegation last week. Now we are urging you to do the same. Write OR call YOUR elected representative in the US House and both North Carolina senators – Sen. Richard Burr and Senator-Elect Kay Hagan – and ask them to put North Carolina’s future ahead of unions by voting no on card check. (Contact information for members of Congress and more information about our Coalition are provided below.)

Talking Points:

Why card check is bad for business and North Carolina’s future

• Card check is fundamentally un-American because it throws out secret-ballot elections in making a choice about representation and replaces it with a system that is not private and will likely subject employees to increased harassment and coercion by unions. The right to vote by secret ballot is sacred. Too many North Carolinians and other Americans fought too long and hard to obtain this right to throw it away.
  
• Card check will cost North Carolina jobs. Between 1992 and 2002, the less-unionized states, such as North Carolina, generated twice as many non-farm jobs with better benefits than more unionized states (Forbes.com). Card check would eliminate a significant competitive advantage that North Carolina has in attracting and retaining good jobs.
  
• Our nation is experiencing the worst economic crisis in 70 years. Many businesses, both large and small, are simply struggling to stay alive and make payroll. Now is the worst possible time to enact any laws that raise the cost of doing business and make it more difficult to attract, create and retain jobs.
  
• The current card check legislation would destroy any incentive for unions to negotiate reasonably with employers in workplaces that are or become unionized because it would impose government arbiters when a settlement is not reached within 120 days. If the unions and employers fail to reach an agreement within this timeframe, the federal government would step in and take away employers’ right to make important, far-reaching decisions about their businesses.
  
• Current card check legislation is one-sided – to say the least. It increases penalties on employers for what is deemed “unfair labor practices,” but does NOT increase penalties for unions for the same.

North Carolina’s Congressional Delegation

• U.S. Senate (write or call both of them):
  Senator Richard Burr
  U.S. Senate
  217 Russell Senate Office Building
  Washington, DC 20510
  (202) 224-3154
  
• Senator-elect Kay Hagan
  Hagan Senate Committee, Inc.
  P.O. Box 29103
  Greensboro, NC 27429-9103
  (336) 617-5301
  
• U.S. House (write or call your Representative):
  Congressman Heath Shuler
  U.S. House
  Congressional District 11
  512 Cannon House Office Building
  Washington, DC 20515
  (202) 225-6401