The Freedom to Choose

Most of the doublespeak by former President Bush and his pals – about the state of the economy, reasons we went to war in Iraq, the condition of our crumbling infrastructure – has been discredited. But one lingering, glaring Big Lie still holds sway, ticking away like a time bomb – the argument that the Employee Free Choice Act denies workers a secret ballot on whether to form a union.

Stewart Acuff, special assistant to the president at the AFL-CIO, went on Fox News last month to refute the Big Lie, telling viewers that the Employee Free Choice Act does not take away the secret ballot. The only change it does make is that it allows workers – not bosses – to decide if they want to use majority sign-up or a secret ballot.

The politicos, right-wing blowhards and corporate interests opposing the act are working overtime to sell you on the idea that the Employee Free Choice Act is non-democratic – and in some cases, they’re doing a good job.

But the key to their hypocrisy lies here: by beating the drum of “no secret ballot” over and over, they appear to be on the side of workers’ interests. They aren’t. Think about who oppose it – the same people who don’t want to pay for their employees’ health care, who don’t want wages to increase, who don’t want to give employees a contract and who chafe at the idea of workers having a say at their jobs.

Now, consider who supports it: President Obama. A majority of Congress. Labor unions. And the majority of the American public.

In these times of financial decay, workers fortunate enough to have jobs need more ways to get ahead. Union members make on average 30 percent higher wages and are 60 percent more likely to have employee-sponsored health care than their nonunion counterparts. This is the pillar that will continue to support the survival of the middle class and our shared access to the American Dream.