Hat tip: Ace of Spades blog
I blogged recently about how Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner came out in support of the deceptively-named “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA). The main reasons Democrats and unions want this law is that it has a feature called “card check” by which union thugs can intimidate workers into signing a petition advocating for union organization rather than having a secret-ballot election. Unions would then use the extra dues money to give (directly or indirectly) to their Democrat friends.
In today’s Wall Street Journal, former Democratic Senator and 1972 Presidential nominee George McGovern came out in opposition of this bill (which has passed the House of Representatives). In a piece titled, “My Party Should Respect Secret Union Ballots,” he said, in part:
The key provision of EFCA is a change in the mechanism by which unions are formed and recognized. Instead of a private election with a secret ballot overseen by an impartial federal board, union organizers would simply need to gather signatures from more than 50% of the employees in a workplace or bargaining unit, a system known as "card-check." There are many documented cases where workers have been pressured, harassed, tricked and intimidated into signing cards that have led to mandatory payment of dues.
Under EFCA, workers could lose the freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder, free from fear of reprisal.
Now you know why I tend to use the term “left-wing” rather than “liberal” to describe our friends in the Democratic Party. Given how they are losing in the marketplace of ideas over the long term, the only way they can keep any semblance of power is via intimidation.
By the way, the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, Gerry Connolly, also supports this legislation, and Senator Jim Webb has co-sponsored it in the U.S. Senate. It’s nice to know that Mark Warner, Gerry Connolly, and Jim Webb are more out of the mainstream than George McGovern. Warner claims to be a "radical moderate?" I find that Astounding!
