State legislators, activists seek new safeguards for workplace voting privacy

State legislators and citizen activists who have joined forces to safeguard secret ballots in union elections have rediscovered an old constitutional tool that could be used to trump action on Capitol Hill.

The tool is federalism.

Former Rep. Ernst Istook, R-OK, is now chairman of Save our Secret Ballot (SOS) and is orchestrating a push for state constitutional amendments to counter the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or Card Check) if Congress approves it at the federal level.

The Card Check bill would abolish secret ballots for employees voting in union representation elections in the workplace by directing the legislation directs the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to approve a new union as soon as a majority of employees in a company sign cards supporting the action.

Democrats in Congress who support EFCA deny that the bill would eliminate secret ballot and charge critics with spreading “corporate misinformation” about the legislation. Card Check passed the House last year, but fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage in the Senate.

A constitutional amendment designed to block Card Check is under consideration in 10 states, Istook said. He predicts that at least 20 states will be doing so by summer. The Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank in Arizona, wrote the amendment and will defend it in court against legal challenges.

“We are not out just to defeat a bill, which could be picked again over the next few years,” Istook said. “We are to out to drive a stake into the heart of the very idea. If we were to just focus on holding the line on the Senate filibuster now, we could be right back fighting this again in repetitive cycles. We want permanent victory, not just a temporary fight we may or may not win.”

Republican state representative Eric Bedingfield introduced the amendment in the South Carolina legislature, and claims it has strong support among his fellow legislators. South Carolina’s House of Representatives recently passed a resolution that calls upon the congressional delegation to vote down the card check bill.

Bedingfield is also concerned with the arbitration feature folded into the bill that in his view would allow the government to impose contracts on private employers.

“This is detrimental to small businesses here in South Carolina, even those businesses that have just ten or so employees could be targeted” he said. “We just couldn’t afford the legal representation to defend against such cases. This kind of arbitration would be detrimental to recruiting and maintaining businesses in our state.”

In Missouri, former Republican state Senator John Louden leads the constitutional amendment campaign. A parallel campaign seeks to put the amendment on the 2010 election ballot as an initiative and referendum proposal.

 In addition to Missouri and South Carolina, the SOS-backed amendment is being considered in Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Nevada, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota and Florida.

For more:

Card Check gives unions too much power.

Card Check co-sponsors favor secret ballot for Mexico, but not for U.S. workers

Critics fear Card Check is bait for compulsory arbitration system.