Radio Host Sets Record Straight on Employee Free Choice

Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain reports on a debate today that sets the record straight on the Employee Free Choice Act.

On the same day that anti-union forces launched another full-page attack in Oregon on U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley for his support of the Employee Free Choice Act, national Air America radio host Thom Hartmann set the record straight about the legislation.

In a debate with Barbara Comstock, who is helping to lead the national corporate campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act, Hartmann made the case for passage of the bill, while revealing the flawed arguments of the anti-union movement.

In state after state, deep-pocket front groups, such as the Center for Union Facts and the Employee Freedom Action Committee, are running ads attacking candidates like Merkley for their support of the legislation, which would ensure the freedom of workers to form unions without employer harassment.

The bill would require employers to recognize a union if a majority of employees sign cards saying they want the union, a process known as card-check. Currently, the employer can ignore the signed cards and demand a secret-ballot election. Many companies then use the period leading up to the election to harass, intimidate and even fire union supporters to ensure that the employees’ choice for a union is not honored.

On the radio show, Hartmann tells Comstock that card-check is essentially the same as registering to vote.

What card-check does is the same thing that happens if I decide I want to participate in the ultimate union—what Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson referred to as the union. I can go down to the registrar’s office and say I want to register to vote. Then when I vote on my leadership and on ballot issues, I get to vote in a secret ballot, and so will union members when they vote on the management of the union and on contracts.

Merkley is among candidates making it clear that despite the propaganda attacks, they stand strong with America’s workers. Recently, Merkley reiterated the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act to restoring the nation’s middle class.

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