7/19/09:  Unions and Democrats are now starting to follow through on their planned smoke & mirrors strategy by “showing” willingness to drop the “card check” provision of the EFCA.  But the most harmful part of this legislation, government arbitration, is still intact and it is having bureaucrats telling business owners how to run their business that remains the real danger.

7/2/09:  California, anyone?  “…having a job that is protected by a contract is priceless.”  This is the latest mantra from the Teamsters, who are now optimistically kicking off a campaign this month to actively recruiting union organizers to begin strongarming working Americans once EFCA, “this commonsense legislation”, is passed.  I think they are forgetting that “priceless” also can be read as “price less“, aka zero.  As in ZERO jobs when more and more businesses close or fold as a result of the high and wasteful, unsustainable costs of unionized labor.  Unlike the UAW payoffs with Chrysler and GM, the government can’t step in with bailouts and then hand over all of them to the unions. 

5/24/09:  “EFCA in drag” is the latest result of Senator Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrats.  Specter and Senator Tom Harkin are beating feet to find some sort of “compromise” that will allow the bill to pass and thereby secure union backing for Democrats during the 2010 elections.  Of particular “concern” are those “conservative” Democrats, who stand to (rightly) lose to true conservatives should they vote for EFCA.

5/15/09:  Do you know Craig Becker?  You should.  He’s President Obama’s latest nominee to the National Labor Relations Board and, in the same vein as all of President Obama’s choices for key positions, Becker’s views about unionization are a full-frontal assault on American freedoms.  If he has his way, “card check” won’t even need to hit the voting table in Congress.

5/13/09:  In a test of the theory that with age comes wisdom, two old politicians find themselves in the spotlight over their views of the fundamental (lack of) ethics of the EFCA.  George McGovern is being blasted by both labor unions and his fellow Democrats for coming out against the EFCA.  Despite his long support of workers, he is now voicing his concern over the principles involved in secret ballot elections, as well as government involvement in negotiations.  As early as last summer, he wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

“Voting is an immense privilege. “

“We cannot be a party that strips working Americans of the right to a secret-ballot election. We are the party that has always defended the rights of the working class. To fail to ensure the right to vote free of intimidation and coercion from all sides would be a betrayal of what we have always championed.”

More recently, he again put his views in writing and drives home an important point:

“Compulsory arbitration is, in one sense, government dictating to employees what they will win or lose in the deal, with no opportunity to approve the “agreement.” Why should employees pay union dues to get such a contract?”

“George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO for nearly 30 years before retiring in 1979, had it right in condemning mandatory arbitration as “an abrogation of freedom.” “

On the flip side, Republican defector Specter is now getting another taste of the nasty syrup inevitably poured over political waffles.  An ad running in Pennsylvania, paid for by American Rights at Work, a labor-union-backed group, is pressuring him to change his mind and back the EFCA, telling people, “Call and tell Specter Pennsylvania’s for him…..As long as he’s for the Employee Free Choice Act.”

May the highest principles win.

3/25/09:  Apparently the labor unions have been feeling a little cocky about the pending “card check” legislation currently in the House and Senate.  Foxnews has a little report today about the struggles going on in Albion, Indiana, where the UAW is using almost every trick in the book to get a majority of the 50-odd employees at the Dana Corporation Auto Parts plant to sign a card saying they want UAW representation.

And Mitt Romney documented some of the problems inherent with the EFCA, based on his experience as governor of Massachusetts.  A cautionary tale, indeed.

3/24/09:  Chalk one up for American freedoms!  Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has said that he will oppose legislation aimed at allowing unions easier access to control over American businesses.  Despite reports last week that labor was pulling out all the stops, pressuring him, and even trying to bargain with voter registrations by promising to force a support switch from the Democratic to the Republican party, Senator Specter has done the right thing. 

This Conservative thanks him for defending the right to vote in secret and for preserving the right to work and the free market.

You may thank him, too, by sending him an email through his website.