UFW tries to end secret ballots in union elections

Sacramento Bee ^ | 9/6/7 | Daniel Weintraub

[SmithL]

Thirty years ago, legendary union organizer Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers made history by winning the right to a secret ballot for migrant field hands in California who wanted to join a union. Today, in an odd twist, the UFW is trying to take that right away.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is weighing legislation sent to his desk last week that would allow unions to organize farm workers by collecting signed cards from a majority of those workers rather than conducting an election at which each employee makes a confidential choice in the privacy of a voting booth.

The UFW says Senate Bill 180 is necessary to protect farm workers from intimidation by employers who oppose unions. But it is difficult to see how removing the right to a secret ballot in an election conducted by the state -- the current arrangement -- would help workers in any way.

Instead, the legislation's goal appears to be to help the union expand its membership by eliminating the need for elections. Workers would have to look a union member in the eye and tell him No if they preferred not to join.

The legislation comes at a time when the UFW has been struggling to maintain its footing on the farm. The union won just half of the elections it contested between 1990 and 2005, according to Rural Migration News, a publication by the University of California, Davis.

[SmithL]

How un-American.

[goldstategop]

Today the Left is against the secret ballot.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[DoughtyOne]

I could never be a union member. NEVER

I’d live off alpo before I’d join.

[darkwing104]

Workers would have to look a union member Thug in the eye and tell him No if they preferred not to join.

Gutsy, but not a wise move.

[HwyChile]

If Arnold signs that bill, he is either stupid or now officially a democrat. Secret ballots prevent all intimidation because nobody knows how someone voted. Union cards are just a way for unions to intimidate people to join a union.

[jaydubya2]

Isn’t this exactly what the Employee Free Choice Act is?

[goldstategop]

Its Orwellian. I do think we need strong private sector labor unions but no one should be forced to join one.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Lurker]

Isn’t this exactly what the Employee Free Choice Act is?

Sure is.

L

[Colonel_Flagg]

The UFW says Senate Bill 180 is necessary to protect farm workers from intimidation by employers who oppose unions.

It is of course the opposite. The objective is to promote unionism over and above objections from others.

[jaydubya2]

"...but no one should be forced to join one."

It a condition of employment for me, since my state does not have the Employee's Free Choice Act.

[jaydubya2]

Pardon me: My State does not have the “Right to Work Act”, I got my bills confused.

[ANGGAPO]

The fix is almost in.

[goldstategop]

That's the problem with compulsory unionism. If unions really represent the interest of workers, the principle of joining them should appeal to working stiffs. The problem is unions have failed to articulate reasons why workers should vote for them and rather than fixing the problem they want government to force workers to join them through union-rigged elections.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Uncle Hal]

Another test for Arnold. If he signs this bill. he is officially a Democrat.

[Seaplaner]

The UFW says Senate Bill 180 is necessary to protect farm workers from intimidation by employers who oppose unions.

Some lies are 100% transparent.

[scan59]

To win broader support for the bill in the Legislature, the UFW accepted an amendment that would require both the worker and the card circulator to sign under penalty of perjury that the worker signed the card without coercion. A similar provision applies to state voter registration cards and initiative petitions.

Under penalty of perjury. Yep, that'll stop the intimidation all right! "Hey you slashing my tires! That's coercion!"