The unions are getting desperate. With Democrats balking at eliminating the secret ballot in union organizing elections and saddling business with crushing arbitration requirements, the SEIU has decided to play hardball — and dirty. This video accuses Rep. Dan Boren, D-OK, of not caring whether workers die:

This is some rough stuff. The SEIU has just launched a hard-hitting Web video that ties Blue Dog Democrat Dan Boren to the horrific death of a worker in his home state, yet another sign that the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act is shaping up as a no-holds-barred free-for-all.

The video — an effort to make Boren pay a political price in his home state for his recent declaration that he’ll vote against EFCA — dramatizes the plight of a father of four who, according to the video, worked at an industrial laundry and was dragged into a heavy duty dryer, where he was violently tossed around for 20 minutes and eventually died[.]

It’s not just “rough stuff”, it’s despicable.  It blames the death of a worker on a lack of union organization, but what the video doesn’t tell you is that the workers have the right to organize now.  They can gain enough signed cards to file with the NRLB, which will then conduct an election on site.  Did the workers in this plant try that?  The video never says, although it emphasizes that the employer opposes union organization, which is both true and irrelevant.  The workers in that plant apparently didn’t want to organize, or at least not enough of them did.

While unions do help protect lives and enforce safety regulations in dangerous work environments, they’re not the only way to get that done.  On the federal level, OSHA can enforce safety standards as well, and workers can file anonymous complaints about unsafe conditions.  Many states have parallel agencies for the same purpose.  In Oklahoma, the Safety Standards Division appears to cover the workplace in Tulsa.  Did workers file any complaints to OSHA or OK-SSD before this accident?  Apparently not, as the SEIU only says that safety issues were found on surveillance tapes after the death.

It doesn’t take the elimination of the secret ballot to organize workplaces.  Workers have had those rights for decades.  The SEIU wants to exploit a tragic death in order to frighten and intimidate people into making the unions relevant again — which gives a pretty clear indication of their tactics if Congress ever does remove the secret ballot in organizing elections.

Update: Reader MGR asks what kept Cintas employees from organizing without Card Check when the other workplace they reference managed to do so.  Good point.

Previous posts on Card Check:

• Johnson against Card Check, too?
• Video: Murkowski tells AK legislature she’ll oppose Card Check
• Breaking: Ben Nelson publicly opposes Card Check
• Video: Warren Buffett on Card Check
• Video: Blue Dog speaks out against Card Check
• Conference call: Rep. John Kline on Card Check
• The Ed Morrissey Show: Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar, Card Check; John Taylor, Getting Off Track
• Three Dems wavering on Card Check in the Senate?
• Obama tells unions that Card Check will pass this year
• CPAC Interview: Card Check
• Obama moving away from fear-based politics?
• Secret ballots for workers in Mexico, but not the US?
• Will Stern strong-arm unions to join the SEIU?
• Video: Labor officials can’t explain why they need to dump the secret ballot
• Card check a dead letter?
• Audio: Sharpton opposing Card Check?
• Card Check loses a vote? Perhaps
• Video: Blago, SEIU, and Card Check
• DeMint conference call: Card Check, bailouts
• Card Check: A direct pipeline to corruption and abuse
• Can Obama get Democrats to support Card Check?
• Video: The Card Check ad CBS doesn’t want you to see
• Irony escapes the House Democratic Caucus
• Guess who used the secret ballot … again?
• Video: Meet Union Boss Bill
• USA Today: Stop Card Check …
• Video: McGovern on Card Check
• George McGovern to fight Card Check in debate ad
• Video: What if Congress passed Card Check for all elections?
• FRC Action Summit: Barbara Comstock on EFCA
• George McGovern: Stop Card Check
• Where did the SEIU get $150 million for politics?
• Right Online Conference: John Fund
• Maybe this is why they need Card Check?
• Video: “I Hate Heroes”
• Johnny Sac takes on the unions