http://demockracy.com/dear-president-obama-dont-do-these/ Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:23:22 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 http://demockracy.com/dear-president-obama-dont-do-these/comment-page-1/#comment-1300 I Changed My Mind on Employee Free Choice | Demockracy Fri, 22 May 2009 03:31:00 +0000 http://demockracy.com/?p=2567#comment-1300 [...] I have written before about the current process of unionization, as have other Demockracy writers, and I will not go into it here. Again, we come around to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would augment the current system of union creation. Again, I have before explained how it would work. In my previous pieces, I came out against EFCA because it does not have a secret ballot. How, I said, can we get an accurate assessment of whether or not people want to unionize without a secret ballot? I neglected another factor: employer pressure between the initial petition and the actual election. During this period, which usually lasts between 30 and 60 days, employers dramatically increase pressure on employers not to form a union. This pressure can vary from the benign (”workshops” in which union-busters explain to employees why unions are actually bad for them) to the criminal (openly threatening employees with termination if they join unions). Starbucks was found guility of the latter when it fired some employees at a Manhattan store who tried to unionize. [...] [...] I have written before about the current process of unionization, as have other Demockracy writers, and I will not go into it here. Again, we come around to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would augment the current system of union creation. Again, I have before explained how it would work. In my previous pieces, I came out against EFCA because it does not have a secret ballot. How, I said, can we get an accurate assessment of whether or not people want to unionize without a secret ballot? I neglected another factor: employer pressure between the initial petition and the actual election. During this period, which usually lasts between 30 and 60 days, employers dramatically increase pressure on employers not to form a union. This pressure can vary from the benign (”workshops” in which union-busters explain to employees why unions are actually bad for them) to the criminal (openly threatening employees with termination if they join unions). Starbucks was found guility of the latter when it fired some employees at a Manhattan store who tried to unionize. [...]

]]> http://demockracy.com/dear-president-obama-dont-do-these/comment-page-1/#comment-382 Kevin Van Dyke, Editor Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:58:06 +0000 http://demockracy.com/?p=2567#comment-382 I agree completely, Mark. Some on the far left are very passionate about these two issues (especially the former) and can't seem to see reason. Democrats won such a mandate because of moderate suburban voters who agree with them on social issues, iraq, health care, etc. These voters didn't vote the democrats in so they could pass legislation that only benefits old labor. They claim that the efca doesn't "eliminate secret ballots," but rather "only eliminates the right of an employer to call for one when there are a majority of signatures". I fail to see the difference. Thankfully, I don't think the fairness doctrine has much of a chance, but I worry about the efca. The efca, in my opinion, would show the democratic party is still in the pocket of old labor. I agree completely, Mark. Some on the far left are very passionate about these two issues (especially the former) and can’t seem to see reason. Democrats won such a mandate because of moderate suburban voters who agree with them on social issues, iraq, health care, etc. These voters didn’t vote the democrats in so they could pass legislation that only benefits old labor. They claim that the efca doesn’t “eliminate secret ballots,” but rather “only eliminates the right of an employer to call for one when there are a majority of signatures”. I fail to see the difference. Thankfully, I don’t think the fairness doctrine has much of a chance, but I worry about the efca. The efca, in my opinion, would show the democratic party is still in the pocket of old labor.

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