Kinder to fight federal union measure

Employers must fight back against attempts to extend union representation, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said Monday as he brought state business lobbyists to Cape Girardeau to organize against the Employee Free Choice Act.

Kinder is taking a lead role in the effort to amend Missouri's constitution to require secret ballots in all elections, including those that decide whether a group of employees will be represented by a union. The effort is an attempt to use state law to thwart the intent of federal legislation being pushed by major labor unions.

The labor bill, which has passed the U.S. House but is struggling in the U.S. Senate, would allow labor organizers to collect signature cards from half of the workers in a business and form a union local. Under current law, if 30 percent of workers sign such cards, the employer must allow an election on union representation.

The Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card-check, "is so misnamed it is right out of Orwell," Kinder told about a dozen people gathered at Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant and Lounge, 19 N. Water St.

Labor unions aren't necessarily bad, Kinder said, and any employer who finds themselves involved in a successful organizing campaign under current law "probably deserves one."

But the proposed law, which also takes other steps that favor unions, "is a dramatic leaping ahead of the unions' power to thrust themselves into the workplace."

A New York Times article printed Thursday reported that a half-dozen Democratic senators had decided that the card-check provision would be dropped to gain passage of the other union-friendly items in the bill. But that shouldn't deter business owners worried that shops with as few as 10 employees could face much easier unionization.

"This will be a jobs destroying bill, make no mistake about it," Kinder said.

Along with Kinder's rallying remarks, the people in attendance -- many who own small or medium-sized businesses without unions -- also heard about the strategy of the campaign. The initiative drive, called Save Our Secret Ballot, is being coordinated by a national organization and uses language written at the Goldwater Institute, campaign leader John Loudon said. Loudon, a former state senator, said the measure has already made the ballot in two states and petition drives are underway in nine states in addition to Missouri.

By making a secret ballot a right in Missouri, the state can successfully challenge a federal law, Loudon said. And he urged the business owners to support the measure because passage of the federal bill would tilt political power strongly toward unions.

"The labor movement has always been a tool of the left to leverage power," Loudon said.

Employers should be prepared to donate $100 for every worker to the petition campaign, he said. And he urged them to make their contributions to the national organization leading the ballot effort, not to the state campaign that must report the source of every donation.

The national campaign effort is set up as a not-for-profit corporation, not a political campaign, Loudon noted. Donations to the national campaign that are used by the Missouri effort are reported only under the name of the not-for-profit group, he said.

"You can make those contributions and they are not reportable," Loudon said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

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Pertinent address:

19 N. Water St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.