I am all in favor of increasing freedoms of workers and protecting them from abuse. However I am rather skeptical about card check. At present the decision to form a union is done with a secret ballot, which I think is far safer and secure in terms of the establishment process than something as open ended as card check.
Most of the problems, occur not with the selection method, but the campaign for or against and I worry that there would be intimidation by both employers and labor representatives, even with protections that would be hard to counter in the absence of a secret ballot.
As an alternative I think we could have some of the same regulations established to keep the process free of these unsavory practices, while at the same time still preserving the secret ballot.
I think the secret ballot as a function of principle is a good idea, but the drawn out elections we often see for unions are where intimidation may happen from both sides. Making the process easier is a priority of mine.
I also agree with the spirit of this legislation to give freedom to allow workers to protect themselves from abuse by their employers. In an effort compromise the debate between the use of cards vs. a secret ballot, I propose allowing workers to secretly obtain union cards outside of the premises of the workplace until over 50% of workers in a company have those cards. Then the union and the workers can call for an immediate and swift secret ballot election over whether or not to turn it into a union shop. The company should not be informed about any attempts at unionizing in order to prevent them from using intimidation to crush such a movement. In order to control the ability for unions themselves to use unsavory tactics, workers should be allowed to report any aggressive behaviors from union organizers to the police for acts including but not limited to stalking, harassment, bribery, physical violence, threats, and the release of workers' sensitive private information, as well as any threats to do any of these actions. If a union is convicted of a crime that aims toward intimidating workers into joining a union, then they wouldn't be allowed to try to unionize in that shop ever again. The appropriate punishment for a company that is convicted of suppressing unionization is already in the bill.
