Secret ballots are necessary. Sometimes it seems that labor activists do not consider honest disagreement to be possible. Consider the rhetoric that labor has always used to advance its purposes. Any employer who prefers to remain non-union is a “union buster” and lumped in with the “bad actors.”Cross a picket line – you’re a “scab.” Decline to pay union dues – you’re a “free rider.” Think unions have served their purpose? – you need a "frontal lobotomy." And, God forbid, you decide to work for management – you are, in the words of one pro-labor blogger, a “Turncoat Organizer [who] Drowns in Corporate Cash .” This type of rhetoric certainly gives one pause to consider whether an employee who declines to sign a card will be treated with respect by a union.
In 2005 alone, some 5,405 Charges were filed against unions alleging “illegal restraint and coercion of employees” and 594 Charges alleged “illegal union discrimination against employees.” (2005 NLRB Annual Report, p. 15). Is this reflective of most union organizers? Probably not. But the conduct currently being attributed across-the-board to management is also not typical. In those cases where “bad actors” from either side exist, a secret ballot is the only way to determine an employee’s “free choice.”
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