National Right to Work President and Former Union Organizer Blast So-Called ‘Card Check’ Bill

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National Right to Work President and Former Union Organizer Blast So-Called ‘Card Check’ Bill

Mark Mix and Ricardo Torres say ‘Card Check’ would lead to Big Labor abuse of workers, hurt economy

Washington, D.C. -- Earlier today, National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix and former United Steelworkers of America (USWA) union organizer Ricardo Torres voiced their opposition to H.R. 800, the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill, in testimony before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

Passage of H.R. 800 would mean that workers would no longer retain even the minimal protection of a secret ballot election. Instead, the bill would allow union officials to employ the coercive “card check” system during organizing campaigns.

Under the card check system, all that is needed for union officials to establish monopoly bargaining power is for a majority of workers to sign so-called “union authorization cards.”

If a majority of workers sign these cards, union officials can establish monopoly bargaining -- forcing all workers -- even those who wish to have no part of the union -- to accept union representation. In non-Right to Work states, workers can also be forced to pay union dues.

Mark Mix stated, “The fact is, under a card check system, union militants know which workers have signed cards and which haven’t, so independent-minded workers are lied to, intimidated -- and worse.”

“Passage of H.R. 800 would enable Big Labor bosses to increase their power by trampling over workers. If passed, you can bet the union elite will take full advantage.”

Under current federal law “card checks” are used only whenever a union can pressure an employer to accept them.

In his testimony, Mark Mix said that even in these limited cases, they have proven time and again to be rife with abuse.

He stated that in past card check elections, “Many [workers] were lied to by union organizers about what the card really meant. They were told that signing the card would help ensure that a secret ballot election took place. Many others were subjected to significant intimidation in their homes, in front of their children, until they signed the cards.”

Mark Mix’s testimony was backed up by former USWA organizer Ricardo Torres who also said the passage of H.R. 800 would lead to more worker abuse. Torres served as a union organizer from 1996-2002.

In his testimony, Torres said, “I ultimately quit this line of work when a senior Steelworkers union official asked me to threaten migrant workers by telling them they would be reported to federal immigration officials if they refused to sign check-off cards during a Tennessee organizing drive. This was the last in a long list of abuses I had observed as a union organizer.”

Torres went on to explain how union organizers dealt with employees who they had identified as against organization, stating, “Union organizers tried to learn as much personal information about the targeted workers as possible, such as their friends, hobbies, and habits.”

He went on to say, “Visits to the homes of employees who didn’t support the union were used to frustrate them and put them in fear of what might happen to them, their family, or homes if they didn’t change their minds about the union.”

“Card check organizing drives give the union more power over the employees. It can be awfully hard to dissent when the union knows how you voted . . . We [union organizers] knew how to make the pressure so great that most workers would feel powerless to refuse to sign the card.”

In addition to the increase in the abuse of workers by union officials, Mark Mix also stated the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill should be defeated because it would negatively affect the national economy by increasing the number of workers covered by union monopoly bargaining.

In his testimony, Mark Mix stated , “When interstate differences in cost of living are factored in, the mean weekly earnings in 2001 of employees in the 10 states with the lowest share of private-sector workers under union monopoly bargaining were $683. That's nearly $30 a week, or roughly $1500 a year, more than the mean of $654 earned by employees in the 10 states with the highest share of unionized employees.”

“[Over the past decade], the 10 states with the smallest share of workers under monopoly bargaining enjoyed an aggregate job growth of 27.7%, more than double the 13.5% growth among the states where Big Labor wielded the most monopoly power . . . The monopoly-bargaining system has, by all evidence, undermined the very economic goals union officials purport to hold near and dear. Imposing more of the same on employees is no solution.”

After the hearing, Mark Mix stated, “The Card Check Forced Unionism Bill is a bald-faced Big Labor power grab that would be a bad deal for workers and for our economy.

“Instead of scheming up new ways to hand America’s workers over to Big Labor control -- like the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill -- Congress should pass a National Right to Work law which would end forced unionism nationwide and restore the right of American workers to decide for themselves whether or not to join of financially support a union.