The full letter sent from ATR opposing the Employee Free Choice Act and the provisions within:

March 10, 2009

Dear Member of Congress:

On behalf of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), representing a coalition of taxpayers, businesses and working Americans, I am writing to alert you to the dangers posed by the “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA). If this bill is passed, this law will compromise your constituents’ freedoms and place their safety at risk. Additionally, at a time when the United States can least afford it, this bill will cost 600,000 American jobs within the first year.

Introduced on Tuesday, March 10th, by Rep. Miller (D-Calif.) and Sen. Harkin (D-Iowa), as you know, the EFCA will eliminate a worker’s right to a federally-supervised private ballot election. Instead, secret ballots will be replaced by a kind of open-air petition known as a “card check.” Under this system, workers would lose their right to privacy. Employers, union organizers, and co-workers would all know if your constituents vote for or against unionization.

Too often, unions have resorted to petition-like “card check” campaigns which take the decision for union representation from the private voting booth to the front porch of workers. Reports have indicated that the public signing (or not) of these petitions leads to violence, bribery, and/or distorting the truth to workers. This bill, if passed, will encourage similar abuses resulting from these “card check” petitions. 

Besides risky “card check” schemes, the EFCA presents other excessive demands from Big Labor.  Prominent among these is its requirement for mandatory, binding arbitration in the event that unions refuse to continue with contract negotiations.  Binding arbitration would be imposed on both the employer and the collective bargaining unit (the workers), regardless if they support the union or not.  Decisions of federal arbitration boards in these cases would be binding upon both parties for two years.

In closing, I wish to personally inform you that my staff and I are working with our expansive grassroots network to ensure that the voting citizens are aware of the dangers posed by card check. Additionally, this vote will be scored in our annual “Hero of the Taxpayer” Congressional ratings and voting for the Employee Free Choice Act, will negatively affect your contention for the award.

Onward,
 
Grover G. Norquist
GGN/bmj


For more information, contact federal affairs manager Brian M Johnson at bjohnson@atr.org or 202-785-0266