Legislation bad for business

To the editor:

As a small-business owner, I write to you with the hope of raising awareness about the undemocratic and politically driven legislation know as Card Check or The Employee Free Choice Act. If passed, this legislation would radically alter the landscape of the American workplace be stripping employees of their right to vote privately in union elections and intentionally keep employers uninformed about organizing drives. Rather, a union could be organized simply if a majority of employees sign cards.

I am strongly against this legislation because it eliminates a worker’s right to the private ballot. The right to a private ballot is inherent and fundamental to he American democratic system. Under existing law, a private ballot election is guaranteed and administered by the National Labor Relations Board. This proven method prevents workers from being vulnerable to misinformation, intimidation and coercion by union advocates.

Perhaps the most frightening, and often less obvious, consequences of the proposed card check system is that workers could face binding contracts if negotiations between labor and management stall; binding contracts that workers are never even allowed to vote for. And furthermore, these contracts would be imposed by an arbitration board put in place by the federal government.

As it stands now, small businesses are already near the breaking point trying to cope with the crippling credit crunch, skyrocketing health care costs, and often paralyzing uncertainty of this economic recession. All the while, organized labor is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in political campaigns. Small-business owners certainly do not need the additional challenges that would be brought upon them by card check. With all the massive challenges facing the nation today, including a rising unemployment rate, are members of Congress so out of touch with the interests of workers that bringing dramatic unwanted conflict to the American workplace would constitute their top legislative priority?

Kevin Turkington

Anchorage