Huffington Post: With Friends Like These...Robert Reich's "Mistakes" on Employee Free Choice Act

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/with-friends-like-thesero_b_190380.html

Posted April 23, 2009 | 06:01 PM (EST)

Hard as it may be to believe, a moderate pro-union liberal, Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton, echoed the right-wing myth that the Employee Free Choice Act takes away the secret ballot while acting as the token liberal guest on CNBC, the network that brought you the economic meltdown. Reich's misinformation fits in well with a broader campaign by Democratic-linked loybbing firms to kill the bill, as reported by Thomas Frank in the Wall Street Journal, even if that wasn't Reich's intention.

But it's also a sad commentary on the need for the progressive movement to broaden its reach on behalf of the legislation -- and to overcome the mainstream media's barriers to telling the truth about the legislation. As reported by author Randy Shaw on the San Francisco alternative news website Beyond Chron:

Reich's comments on Kudlow's April 20 show reveal that he neither understands the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) nor is an effective advocate for its passage.


Kudlow & Company is part of CNBC's attempt to steal Republicans from FOX News, and its pundits are dominated by conservative, anti-union voices. In the show's April 20 debate on EFCA, Reich's opponent emphasized his outrage at EFCA's alleging depriving workers of a secret ballot.

Reich should have responded by saying that EFCA did nothing to abolish workers right to a secret ballot election. Reich should also have told viewers that workers have long joined unions through signing authorization cards, and that all EFCA does is prevent employers from vetoing this process.

What did Reich say instead? He agreed that it's wrong to abolish the secret ballot -- which EFCA does not do -- and said he shared his conservative opponent's objections to that provision.

So much for point-counterpoint.

FULL story and update at link.

[dcsmart]

1. here is how they spin it

they are right. EFCA does "take away" the secret ballot, if you CHOOSE to go with card check. so yes, technically, EFCA does "do away with it"...unless you choose it and then EFCA will "do away with" card check.....but i think you can have both.....so there you have it, if you choose one, the other goes away, and vice versa....:toast:


P.S.

we need to have a third party, a Labor Party.

[justanaverageguy]

2. The secret ballot will so seldom be used

that it does effectively eliminate the secret ballot election. This is exactly why unions support this bill with so much vigor. Unions have always hated NLRB governed secret ballot elections. Because they so often do not win those elections.

So while it is not untruthful to say that the option of a secret ballot election is still there, it is not the entire story and meant to be a bit misleading.