Yesterday I wrote about the Employee Free Choice Act, explaining the ultimate goal of this legislation is to do away with secret ballots allowing unions to form more easily. I explained that even the primary sponsor of the bill Rep. George Miller (D-CA), was against Mexico drafting similar legislation in 2001, and informed you that Rep. George Miller (D-CA) coincidentally recieved 64% of his political contributions from labor groups.

Today at the Daily Kos there is an article which announces triumphantly “Passing EFCA will get more Democrats elected“.

In 2006, 74% of union members voted for union-endorsed House candidates (99% of whom were Democrats), and 76% voted Democratic in Senate races. By contrast, non-members favored Dems by only 2 points. Quite simply, the outreach and education that unions provide to their members results in a more Democratic electorate. So it stands to reason that if we can create more union members, there’ll be more Democratic votes — and that’s where EFCA comes in. A 2004 study by Professor Susan Johnson of Wilfred Laurier University found that passage of legislation such as EFCA would raise union density by approximately 10 percentage points. Imagine 10% more of the electorate receiving political education and voter outreach from their unions. Imagine millions of voters converted from independents to solid Democrats.

Even if you really don’t believe in the union movement, as a Democrat, it’s in your interest to fight to make EFCA law. There’s simply no better way to build the Democratic base.

If Kosacks can figure this out, does anyone honestly believe the thought hasn’t crossed Harry Reid’s mind as well?

An interesting question arises from the 2004 survey cited by the Daily Kos. Why would doing away with a secret ballot increase union density by 10%? The study showed “that mandatory elections reduced the certification success rate by approximately nine percentage points below what it would be using a card check method”. The problem with this study is it does not investigate the reason behind the 9 pertent differential. The most obvious cause of the increase in certification success rates is that it is much easier to say no on a secret ballot than to look someone in the eye and say there services are not needed.

With EFCA, the Democrats are selling the working class for money and votes from the powerful unions. Once union memberships start to rise again, they will push the Democrats for increased wages which the Democrats will happily give them. This will have the obvious effect of raising employer costs, thereby forcing them to downsize.

If a majority of employees currently working in non union shops truly wished to unionize, this bill will have no effect on them as they have always had the power to unionize. This bill will have an effect on those employees who are happy with their current work environment, as they watch the unions force themselves in the door demanding to represent employees for their own good.

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Congress, Politics