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Card Check: Destroying American Business, One Coerced Signature at a Time

Barack Obama and his liberal allies have been in power only a few months, but American taxpayers and businesses are already getting a taste of the liberal agenda, with extreme government spending and tax increases already in motion.

Card Check will be next on their agenda, and it will allow worker intimidation and broader government control of businesses - bad news for workers, employers and their families in these tough economic times.

Card Check, part of the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, makes it possible for groups of employees to legally unionize by simply signing public authorization forms designating a union as their representative. Card Check violates workers' rights to privacy and imposes undue government restriction on employers and businesses, among other serious threats:

  • Card Check Violates Employee Rights. Card Check does away with the secret ballot, violating an employee's right to privacy and leaving him or her vulnerable to ridicule, coercion and undue pressure to vote for or against unionization.

  • Card Check Threatens Employer Rights and Discretion. Card Check removes the employer's ability to evaluate the need for a secret ballot vote. This method will legally require employers to recognize Card Check style petitions, regardless of employee victimiazation or coercion, violations of privacy or other threats to workplace rights and security. Card Check leaves employers powerless to protect their employees.

  • Card Check Increases Government at the Expense of Freedom. Through a "binding arbitration" clause in the legislation, Card Check puts wage and benefit power in the hands of a government bureaucrat rather than the employer or business owner.
By doing away with the secret ballot and allowing unions to collect employee signatures in public, Card Check undermines longstanding principles of workplace democracy. Ballots must remain secret, and employers, not government, should control the private businesses for which they've worked so hard. Card Check is unconstitutional, and Louisiana deserves better.





Card Check: What They're Saying

  • "Faced with a Democrat-controlled Congress and a new president who has made no secret of his labor-friendly leanings, business interests nationally and regionally have embarked on a major campaign designed to pull the plug on a bill that would make it easier for employees to organize..." - New Orleans City Business: "Businesses, Unions Ready to Battle over 'Free Choice'"

  • "The Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card-check legislation, would remove the private vote of workers. Instead, workers would be pressured to sign cards in front of organizers and colleagues, potentially subjecting them to harassment, coercion and intimidation. Once a majority of employees have signed cards, the union is immediately recognized..." - 2TheAdvocate.com: "Letter Against Employee Free Choice Act"

  • "...Additionally, the bill includes a "binding arbitration" provision that would let the federal government dictate wages and benefits under a union contract, and then deprive workers of the chance to vote on that contract. This expansion of government power is the equivalent of reestablishing wage and price controls in our economy, and could put many employers out of business..." - The Daily Comet: "Chamber wants officials to oppose 'Card check'"

  • "The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act would, among other measures helpful to union expansion, allow a shop to unionize before its owner knew a union campaign was being waged. The proposed law is undemocratic, possibly unconstitutional, and certainly unfair. Already approved by the House but lacking a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the measure would make a number of changes to complex labor laws. The most dramatic change would be to open the door for unionizing without a secret-ballot vote by all workers. The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act would, among other measures helpful to union expansion, allow a shop to unionize before its owner knew a union campaign was being waged..." - The Tampa Tribune: "A Secret Vote Would Blindside Employers"


Card Check: Vitter's View

Senator Vitter believes that the people of Louisiana deserve a secret ballot vote when it comes to unionization, and he firmly stands for the rights of workers and employers alike. A friend of free enterprise and limited government, Senator Vitter will not stand for government control of Louisiana's private sector:

"This bill goes against the fundamental rights of our democracy. By doing away with the secret ballot, it creates an environment ripe for union intimidation and coercion and places undue pressure on employees to vote along union lines. The bill also opens the door to putting government regulators in charge of private business decisions and is clearly unfriendly to all types of private businesses." - Sen. David Vitter, February 9th, 2009 (New Orleans City Business: "Businesses, Unions Ready to Battle over 'Free Choice'")


Help Us Fight: Sign Our Petition Against Card Check

By doing away with the secret ballot, Card Check surrenders workers' rights and turns private control of businesses over to the government. Help Senator Vitter and the people of Louisiana fight Card Check and promote workplace democracy by signing the petition below.


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David Vitter for U.S. Senate