Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), is a big supporter of unions as given by her 100% rating by AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and SEIU. This also means she is a big fan of the Employee Free Choice Act as all liberals are.
For those that do not know, the Employee Free Choice Act is an act which contradicts its own name. It takes away the secret ballot for workers so both the unions and the employer can see how each worker votes when workers attempt to organize. This in essence gives the labor unions incredible power over workers and will eventually allow them to do to all industries what the UAW did to the big 3 automakers. It is all bad news.
Rep John Kline put it pretty well when he said, “It is beyond me how one can possibly claim that a system whereby everyone – your employer, your union organizer, and your co-workers – knows exactly how you vote on the issue of unionization gives an employee free choice”
He is right. Everyone knows how unions work. If they are able to know how individual workers voted, then they will be able to use this information to pressure and coerce workers to support the union or else. Exactly the thing labor laws are supposed to keep corporations from doing.
To make matters worse for Hilda Solis, in 2007 she adamantly opposed the lack of a secret ballot in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus election. She even signed a letter which stated that the lack of a secret ballot would compromise the integrity of the caucus.
Not to be outdone, in 2001 one of the co-sponsors of the EFCA, Rep. George Miller, signed a letter sent to the Mexican Government (along with 11 other democrats) expressing their opinion that all union recognition elections should use secret ballots.
During the election, Obama was a big supporter of the EFCA and actually was one of its original co-sponsors. And in turn the unions gave their full support to the Obama campaign, but they made it very clear that they expected something in return. When AFSCME President Gerald McEntee was asked what he expected for their support of Obama and other democrats, he said the following,
“The payback would be Employee Free Choice Act”.
It is about time that all these union members come to realize the obvious. Democrats don’t really care how this legislation affects the workers. They care how it helps their union boss friends. The ones with the power and money to get them elected.
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