The Coalition For A Democratic Workplace's Anti-Card Check Straw Man

Today, the Washington Post published a column by Coalition for a Democratic Workplace chairman Brian Worth titled "Labor's Card-Check Ruse." In the column, Worth disputes the need for the Employee Free Choice act by stating that "unions win two out of every three federally supervised elections." He goes on to mock the idea that "winning two-thirds of the time" represents "a crisis requiring a legislative fix."

However, Worth is making a straw man argument.  The problem isn't that unions don't have a high enough winning percentage, but rather that under current law employers often use intimidation to stop workers from even holding an election in the first place:

• According to American Rights at Work: "As soon as workers file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold an election, employers often try to prevent the vote from ever taking place; in four out of 10 cases, workers who ask for an NLRB-supervised election don't ever get a chance to vote."

• The House Labor Committee notes, "if you're an employee actively trying to organize your coworkers, you have a one in five chance of getting fired by your employer for simply exercising your democratic rights."

• The National Labor Relations Board found that more than 29,000 people were disciplined or fired for union activity during FY 2007; that amounts to "one worker every 18 minutes."

The fact that unions win two-thirds of secret-ballot elections in the face of rampant employer intimidation is simply proof that workers want to organize -- not evidence that there isn't a problem. 

Of course, Worth's dishonesty isn't a surprise.  The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is nothing more than a deceptively named lobbying organization with ties to Dick Cheney's daughter.  Here's what The Hill had to say about the group in 2007:

Then there are the lobbying groups whose name suggests the exact opposite of what they really stand for. That should tell you a lot, right there. It tells you that the people behind these groups are less than proud of what they represent. [...]

So what should we make of a group that calls itself the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace? That sounds like something I might be in favor of. Are these people really trying to give workers more say in the workplace? Heck, that's what unions do.

Actually, that is most definitely NOT what the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace tries to accomplish. Just look at who its members are. The coalition is made up of groups such as the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), whose biggest member is the notoriously anti-union Wal-Mart; the Associated Builders and Contractors, an association of anti-union contractors; the National Association of Manufacturers; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.