Comments on: Libertarians back secret ballot voting rights in union elections

By: Public D

Public D — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:13:57 +0000

Real Libertarians, not pro-Wall Street / Chamber of Commerce flunkies, would say to hell with the Employee Free Choice Act and champion the repeal of Taft-Hartley.

By: Tomcat

Tomcat — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:57:23 +0000

I’m not exactly a fan of unions in general, but I’m in agreement. The government should butt out of this completely and let the unions and the businesses work this out between them.

Compulsion to join an organization that requires dues to work sounds a lot like just another tax on your income to me.

By: Rich Paul

Rich Paul — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:16:12 +0000

What would happen if *another* union showed up and offered to fill jobs for less.

I know there are lots of *union busting* regulations, but I don’t know of *union switching* regulations.

There are lots of unemployed people who might be willing to form an organization, call it a “union” and offer to work for less than a current union.

By: Chris Cole

Chris Cole — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:35:31 +0000

This issue came up during my US Senate race. Thomas is correct. The federal government created this problem with the National Labor Relations Act, which gives 51% of employees the right to force the other 49% to accept their monopoly representation in labor negotiations. If you remove that government intervention, so that union membership and representation are voluntary, the issue of voting method disappears. All workers should have the right to decide whether or not their best self-interest lies with a union, in general, or with any particular union.

By: Thomas L. Knapp

Thomas L. Knapp — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:35:40 +0000

“Card check” is not the problem, it’s just a symptom of the problem. The problem is government being involved in labor representation matters at all.