Big Labor must feel under siege. Their efforts to eliminate secret ballot elections for union certification — so they can intimidate and pressure workers into joining and paying dues to a union — have stalled in Washington, D.C. And now even some of their most fervent supporters — including the Los Angeles Times — are questioning the wisdom of the whole exercise.
Now Michael McGough, a Times senior editorial writer who is clearly sympathetic to the goals of Big Labor, compares the fate of the Card Check Scam Bill to the immigration reform legislation:
Immigration reform wasn’t the only initiative stymied in the U.S. Senate last week. In a largely party-line vote, senators refused to cut off debate on a bill that had been a legislative priority for the Democratic majority: a change in labor law that would make it easier for unions to organize workers. Unlike immigration reform, however, this legislation deserved to die.
McGough understands that labor law should not mean unionism at any cost:
But that choice should be a free one, and nothing ensures a free election better than a secret ballot in which neither the employer nor the union organizer is looking over a worker’s shoulder as she makes her choice. The labor movement used to support the secret ballot (and there’s evidence that a majority of union members still do). The movement was right then and it’s wrong now.