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Although Democrat Betsy Markey represents the mostly conservative Fourth Congressional District, where things used to be going well for Republican Marilyn Musgrave, she hasn’t shied away from the red-hot debate over proposed changes to labor law.
And although, as Politico notes, “there’s no shortage of Republicans who are eager to challenge her in 2010,” Markey is a co-sponsor of the controversial Employee Free Choice Act, which is supported by big labor unions and opposed by big business.
Just 6 percent of workers in Markey’s district are unionized, about half the national average, and the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Collins is lobbying her to shoot down the measure, but she’s sticking to her campaign guns.
Meanwhile, according to Logistics Management, which covers the trucking industry, the fate of the legislation will probably be decided by four fence-sitting senators, including Colorado’s Michael Bennet, a Democrat.
And AlterNet wonders, “Can Unions Win Without the Employee Free Choice Act?”
Posted 3/20/2009 at 10:15 am by Michael de Yoanna
Business, Panorama, Politics :: Permalink :: Comments (2)
Thanks for letting me know that Rep. Markey thinks that a secret ballot vote is worth throwing away so that she can keep getting labor union contributions. The unions are spinning EFCA to claim that “workers” will decide the process. It is a total lie. Whether their is a secret ballot is the decision of the union organizer.
As all of us are worried about whether we will have a job we have the Democrats and our President running around focusing on issues that either will provide more harm to the economy (such as EFCA) or have nothing to do with it.
“Dave” is the one who is spinning here. He leaves out that the current National Labor Relations Act already allows for so-called “card check” union organizing. It is the EMPLOYER who can mandate a secret ballot election; he doesn’t explain why allowing the EMPLOYER to mandate workers’ choice is a good thing.
“Dave” also leaves out that NLRB reporting shows the overwhelming number of secret ballot organizing elections are petitioned for BY THE EMPLOYEES. That’s right, even with the option for “card check” employees overwhelmingly have been choosing a secret ballot election; an option they retain under EFCA.