Edward Gorham: Reject smears against Free Choice Act

[Omaha Steve]

http://bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=167557&zoneid=35

By BDN Contributor
Friday July 25, 2008 - Bangor Daily News

An out-of-state group called "Employee Freedom" is running radio ads in Maine attacking Rep. Tom Allen and Maine unions for their support of the Employee Free Choice Act. The ads spread falsehoods about the legislation and also imply that unions are run by gangsters.

These ads directly accuse organized labor of "corruption" that is typical of "organized crime." Maine working men and women, both union and non-union, and Maine voters should and do resent this type of negative campaign advertising. It has no place in Maine politics or in the discussion of important pending legislation.

These ads falsely state that the Employee Free Choice Act will "pressure" workers into joining unions and take away their right to vote on formation of a union. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This legislation does not outlaw the election process; workers can still have an election if they want one. However, it puts the choice of how employees form their union — by ballot or card — in workers' hands. Right now, the employer — not the workers — gets to choose how, when and where workers form their union.

Well more than half of American workers say they would like to join a union. The reason they don’t do so is that they are afraid of being fired for joining a union or even having a meeting to discuss joining a union.

In an editorial last year, the Bangor Daily News recognized this fact of workplace life and became only the fourth newspaper in the United States to support the Employee Free Choice Act, noting that employer intimidation has tipped the "balance of power" against unions to the detriment of the average worker.

FULL story at link.