Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act are gearing up and trying to frame the issue--before working people get the chance to speak up. Big business and front groups are hysterically claiming the Act would destroy democracy and take away the right to a secret ballot--which, of course, is not true. It just gives employees more options in regards to how they choose a union.

More options sounds pretty democratic, right? And how about the new option Employee Free Choice would give workers: the majority sign up option? Let's see: a majority of workers sign cards saying they want to join a union...that sounds pretty democratic, too, huh?

Labor specialist Nathan Newman thinks so, too. He writes:

Horrors, the business lobby cries, weeping for the lost democratic voice of
their workers (as they threaten to fire anyone who supports the union during the
election), but here's the thing-- an NLRB election recognizes the union if a
majority of THOSE VOTING support the union, while the card check option requires
support from a majority of ALL WORKERS IN THAT COMPANY OR VOTING UNIT. So the latter option is harder and actually is more guaranteed to reflect the will of the workers.

More guaranteed to reflect the will of the workers. Who could object to that?

Well, companies who don't want workers to unionize--that's who. They understand that if this process more accurately reflects the will of workers--without throwing up all the blocks and obstacles that they can throw up now in a secret ballot election--that more workers will choose to join unions and have a voice on the job.