Secret Ballot
A proposed ballot initiative would guarantee Colorado workers a secret ballot in union elections. The measure is a response to proposed federal legislation that would eliminate secret ballot elections in favor of a “card check” system. Critics of the federal plan say that without a secret ballot workers would face intimidation from union leaders to join a union.
The Missouri House has voted to send a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to a secret ballot in union elections on to a final House vote. Missouri joins 12 other states that are considering guaranteeing secret ballot elections in response to the proposed federal legislation that would allow unions to be certified without using secret balloting.
Nothing is creating more heat in the nation’s capitol than the battle over “The Employee Free Choice Act,” (EFCA) popularly known as “card check.”
This proposal has mass support from union leaders as it makes it easier to unionize workers. EFCA replaces the current system of a federally supervised secret ballot election with a card given to workers to opt-in for unionization. Critics are calling foul, as the proposal does away with a workers right to a secret ballot.