Asking "Can We Get Reporters to Stop Saying That EFCA Takes Away the Secret Ballot?" Dean Baker bluntly states (Beat the Press, 5/7/09) that "it's not true." Even though this is one of the "most often repeated lines of the opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act"--"that it will deny workers the right to vote decide on a union with a secret-ballot election"--Baker explains exactly how "that is wrong, wrong and wrong":

First of all, workers do not currently enjoy that right. Maybe that should be repeated a few times in case there are any very slow reporters reading: Workers do not currently have the right to a secret-ballot election to decide whether or not to be in a union.

Under current law, an employer has the option to recognize a union based on a majority of workers decision to sign cards requesting recognition. That's right, folks; under current law, employers can decide to recognize a union without a secret-ballot election.

In fact, with the EFCA, "the decision as to whether or not to have a secret-ballot election or to organize through majority sign-up would rest with workers, not employers." Which means that "anyone who claims that they oppose the Employee Free Choice Act because they support workers' right to a secret ballot, they are not telling the truth. The media should be pointing this out." See the recent issue of FAIR's magazine Extra!: "For Media, 'Card Check' Promise Is One to Break: Corporate Outlets Suddenly Discover 'Workers Rights'" (2/09) by Janine Jackson.

Tags: Beat the Press, Bloomberg, Dean Baker, EFCA, unions

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