Look out, America. The United Auto Workers union is prepared to do whatever it takes to “defend democracy,” including using the tactics of the protesters in the Middle East. And they say their first priority is re-electing President Barack Obama. But behind the rhetoric, the UAW is busy waging a war on democracy in order to shore up its base of support. No, this revelation of the UAW’s plans doesn’t come from any secret memo obtained under cover of night. The news comes straight from the mouth of none other …
Part of living in a democracy involves accepting election results. Americans know to move on when their side loses. Neither Republicans nor Democrats would suggest redoing the vote until their side won. Someone should tell that to the union movement. The Obama Administration recently made it easier to organize Delta airlines. Delta’s employees nonetheless voted the union down. Instead of accepting defeat, the union movement is now asking for a re-vote. They will not take “no” for an answer. The saga began when non-union Delta acquired unionized Northwest airlines in …
Predicting the extent of “lame duck” legislative shenanigans that would ensue if one or both houses of Congress changes hands in the Nov. 2 elections became a Washington parlor game during the August recess. But this is serious stuff to anyone who cares about, oh, limited government, rule of law, free markets and individual liberty. Not content with the damage they’ve already done, liberal lawmakers could really go for broke should they find themselves on the outs come the morning of Nov. 3. One endangered liberal, Senate Majority Leader Harry …
Organized labor has demonstrated why workers should spend some time this Thanksgiving giving thanks for the secret ballot. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) “have been sparring for the right to represent 10,000 home health-care workers” in California. The SEIU has not exactly been using kid gloves. One SEIU organizer admitted that “he was encouraged ‘to pressure voters to change the ballot’ and that on one occasion he himself changed a vote to SEIU’s favor.” Other workers reported that SEIU organizers made …
Rian Wathen, Former Organizing Director for the UFCW, discusses card check. He discusses how union organizers can use corrupt methods to get people to sign cards that, under the Employee Free Choice Act, would authorize a union without a secret ballot election. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZhAvhEnO34[/youtube]
“Since when is the secret ballot a basic tenet of democracy?” – James Phillip Hoffa, March 10, 2009. Before ramming the Employee Free Choice Act down the throats of American workers, maybe Jim Hoffa and his Teamsters should have cracked open the history books. The secret ballot, like democracy itself, was born in classical Antiquity. Ironically, given Big Labor’s backing of EFCA, modern usage of the secret ballot originated within the organized labor movement: A demand for secret ballot elections was one of the six original points of Chartism—a U.K. …
Democracy itself is under attack from union bosses. Teamsters President Jim Hoffa issued a press release Wednesday saying, “Since when is the secret ballot a basic tenet of democracy?” He’s trying to excuse the inexcusable. Hoffa and other union bosses want to strip away workers’ right to a secret ballot election when deciding whether their workplace will join a union. The “card check” bill in Congress would let unions bypass the election process. Hoffa’s comment echoes the head of Utah’s AFL-CIO, who recently called a secret ballot guarantee, “unnecessary and …
