Dear Editor,

As manufacturers, we are writing to urge you to vote against the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act and protect our workers’ right to a private ballot and help keep the workplace in the control of the employers and employees.

The so-called Employee Free Choice Act is a “lose-lose” situation for businesses and employees and threatens the fundamental rights of the very workers that the unions claim to want to protect.

The erroneously named Employee Free Choice Act would strip employees of the privacy and protection of a private ballot and replace it with the hostile approach of the “card check recognition system.” By removing the workers’ privacy, they will be forced to make their decision on whether to unionize in front of coworkers and union organizers.

This is undemocratic, and frankly, un-American.

My employees have the right to unionize. And they should also have the right to a federally supervised election process under the National Labor Relations Board. Under card check, they would have nothing more than a process that is designed to allow pro-union workers and union organizers to intimidate, harass and coerce employees into joining a union.

The U.S. Government has denounced this type of process in other countries and called for honest and private elections to ensure fairness. We should expect nothing less in our own country.

In addition, the “card check” legislation contains a provision that mandates compulsory, binding arbitration on the employer and the employees as part of the collective argaining process. This misguided language would have a third party — a government official — making labor contract decisions that are binding upon both parties. This would mean that the business owner would have no real voice in his own business, nor would the now unionized employees be provided with the opportunity to vote on their new contract.

With the current economic conditions, this is a provision that manufacturers cannot afford.

After reviewing the provisions of the Employee Free Choice Act, it’s clear that this legislation hurts our states employers and workers. Once again, it’s “lose-lose” for everyone except big labor bosses.

We urge you to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act should it come to the floor of the Senate in the 111th Congress. Private ballot elections are the foundation of our democratic society, and America’s workers deserve nothing less.

Sincerely,

Mark Johnson

Quality Manager

Global Security Glazing

Valley Grande