Diminished expectations: Democratic labor bill waters down ‘card check’

Wa Ex: House Democrats will vote Thursday on legislation that amounts to a wish list for unions but waters down one measure labor leaders have wanted for years: card check.

Card check, which would make labor organizing far easier by effectively removing secret ballot elections,was a goal of Democrats during the Obama administration and was a top priority for unions. Yet the Democratic legislation teed up for this week, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, doesn’t include it.

The PRO Act does include changes to union election rules, but they don’t go quite as far. “Yes, it isn’t as broad as a card check provision. It is remedial,” said Wilma Liebman, the former chairwoman of the National Labor Relations Board during the Obama administration who is currently an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law. The NLRB is the federal agency that monitors union elections.

Card check critics counter that Democrats have resorted to backdoor means to advance the idea. “This provision, combined with language that hands over employees’ personal information to union bosses, will subject workers to increased harassment and intimidation from union organizers,” said a Republican aide for the Education and Labor Committee. MORE