Dick Cheney Repeated Debunked Myths About Employee Free Choice Act

The Employee Free Choice Act Does Not Eliminate The Secret Ballot

Dick Cheney: "I do think the legislation that the administration is supporting and the unions are pushing hard, the so-called "card check" law, would do away with a secret ballot in terms of the question of organizing unions." [Cheney Interview, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 5/12/09]

CSM: "The Proposed Law Gives Workers A Choice Of Forming A Union Through Majority Sign-Up ('Card Check') Or An Election By Secret Ballot." As reported in the Christian Science Monitor: "The proposed law gives workers a choice of forming a union through majority sign-up ('card check') or an election by secret ballot. The current election process, governed by the National Labor Relations Board, strongly favors employers, unions say.  The bill also beefs up penalties for employers that discriminate against workers for their union-organizing activity, including treble back pay for workers found to have been illegally fired." [Christian Science Monitor, 3/11/09]

PolitiFact: Employees "Could Ask for a Secret-Ballot Election." According to PolitiFact.com, "[j]ust like before, if unions got more than 30 percent of the employees to sign cards, they could ask for a secret-ballot election." Additionally, the site wrote: "As a practical matter, secret-ballot elections would be far less frequent if the Employee Free Choice Act were passed. But they would still take place under certain circumstances..." [PolitiFact.com, 3/24/09]

Intimidation Comes From Businesses, Not Labor Unions

Dick Cheney: "I don't think we want to get into the business where we make it easier for there to be the kind of intimidation that we've sometimes seen in these operations in the past and where people wouldn't be able to cast a secret ballot in terms of whether or not they want to join a union." [Cheney Interview, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 5/12/09]

EPI: "Pro-Union Workers Can Be Forced To Attend" Anti-Union Meetings. According to the Economic Policy Institute: "Anti-union campaign managers can campaign with every worker, throughout the workplace, and around-the-clock. Pro-union employees can campaign only on break time. Management can require employees to attend 'captive audience' anti-union meetings. Pro-union workers can be forced to attend - but denied the opportunity to speak out. Management can post anti-union messages on the workplace's walls and bulletin boards. But pro-union employees cannot make use of these facilities." [Economic Policy Institute, 1/29/09]

House Labor Committee: Workers Attempting To Form A Union Have "A One In Five Chance Of Getting Fired." Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, notes: "Unlike employers, a union organizer can't fire you, cut your pay, or deny you a promotion. But, 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. Even a pro-business group could only find 42 cases of union deception and/or coercion in obtaining card signatures over the last 70 years. Contrast that with roughly 30,000 workers who received back pay from employers that had fired or illegally intimidated them for each year of the Bush administration. It's clear where the problem lies." [House Committee on Education and Labor, "EFCA: Fact vs. Myth," accessed 4/14/09]

NLRB: One Worker Every Eighteen Minutes Disciplined Or Fired For Union Activity. The National Labor Relations Board found that more than 29,000 people were disciplined or fired for union activity during fiscal year 2007. According to the Economic Policy Institute, that amounts to "one worker every 18 minutes." [NLRB Annual Report 2007, accessed 4/14/09; Economic Policy Institute, 1/29/09]