Video: McGovern on Card Check

posted at 11:20 am on October 15, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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George McGovern continues his opposition to the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as Card Check. McGovern wrote an op-ed column against it in the Wall Street Journal and cut an ad that ran during the last presidential debate in which he stated that democracy was at risk. In this Fox News appearance, one can see that McGovern is almost literally putting all his energy into defeating this proposal:

McGovern’s opposition carries significance because of his support for organized labor throughout his entire career.  He emphasizes that in this interview, but states that democracy is a higher value than unionism.  In the past, he has lamented the fact that unions appear to have forgotten that.

McGovern supports Barack Obama, but Obama supports Card Check.  CNN did a “fact check” on the EFCA and Obama’s support for it, and concluded:

In a speech Monday, October 13, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain took on Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama’s stance on unions. “Senator Obama is measuring the drapes (in the White House), and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to … take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections,” he said.

McCain is referring to a plan supported by labor union leaders. Currently, workers must get a majority of their colleagues to sign an authorization form to ask for union representation — then hold a secret-ballot vote to finalize it. The change Obama supports would let a union be recognized by the National Labor Relations Board immediately after a majority of workers sign the authorization. …

Verdict: True. McCain accurately represents Obama’s stance, although the candidates disagree on the merits of the plan. Organized labor backs Obama’s position, while business groups and some non-union workers support McCain’s.

It’s not difficult to see why Democrats support this plan.  Under the EFCA, union organizers could browbeat workers into signing the cards, which would then impose the union automatically without a secret-ballot vote.  That would give unions millions of new members, and hundreds of millions in dues, which they could then use to support political candidates — and Democrats would be the overwhelming beneficiaries.

Fred Barnes wrote yesterday on the EFCA’s chances in an Obama presidency:

If this scenario unfolds, Washington would become a solidly liberal town again for the first time in decades. And the prospects of passing the liberal agenda–nearly all of it–would be bright. Enacting major parts of it would be even brighter. You can forget about bipartisanship.

Start with “card check.” It would permit organized labor to unionize the private sector without winning a certification election by secret ballot. It’s easy to get workers to sign cards saying they want a union, but it’s hard to get them to vote that way when labor organizers aren’t hounding them. Card check is labor’s last hope for more dues-paying union members.

Unions simply aren’t popular and neither is card check. But it passed the House last year, only to be blocked in the Senate by a Republican filibuster. In 2009, with Washington controlled by Democrats, it would sail through Congress and President Obama would sign it. After all, neither Obama nor congressional Democrats have bucked organized labor even once.

Why buck it when it pays money for your campaigns?  McGovern is more right than he knows.  The EFCA is an assault on democratic values, and the sanctity of the secret ballot is just one way in which this is true.

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