The Alliance for Worker Freedom sent the following letter to all Senators urging them to reject any rumored "card check" provisions should they be included in a "Jobs Bill." Read the full letter below:

[PDF DOCUMNET]

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the Alliance for Worker Freedom, I urge you to exclude all rumored “card check” provisions from Sens. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Dorgan’s (D-N.D.) proposed “Jobs Bill.” Card check, through the precarious process of eliminating private ballot elections, would increase unemployment rates in the United States.

By making it more expensive to hire workers, unions deter businesses looking to add employees to their payroll – forcing unemployment rates up. Once a worksite is unionized, employers are forced to comply with costly union demands. Money that would have been spent on hiring a new worker is instead spent on complying with forced union contracts. Even when a business is ready to employ more workers, the new union hiring process is exponentially prolonged.

Economist Anne Layne-Farrar explains the relationship between unionization and unemployment rates:

“For every 3 percentage points gained in union membership… the following year’s unemployment rate is predicted to increase by 1 percentage point and job creation is predicted to fall by around 1.5 million jobs.”

While card check’s proponents claim the provision creates jobs, Congress should remember the goal of card check is to further restrict the American workforce, a measure sure to slow any recovery.

Any serious “Jobs Bill” should look to ease the burden on businesses. With less red tape and more labor fluidity, employers will be able to expand at a natural rate. Unions, utilizing restrictions and mandates, often increase the cost of hiring a worker so much that employers decline to employ much needed help.
 
As Ms. Lyne-Farrar’s study notes, a bill which includes card check is likely to result in the loss of 600,000 jobs in the first year alone.  To include card check in a “Jobs Bill” is counterproductive. Card check’s aim is to increase unionization which only exasperates the existing double-digit unemployment.

Sincerely,
 
Brian M. Johnson, MPA
Executive Director

cc: All Members of the US Senate