For years, workers have helped tilt the balance of power in fields and factory farms incrementally by organizing themselves into labor unions. The Times supports steps to make it easier for them to join forces and demand humane conditions and negotiate for reasonable pay.
The problem, though, with the "card check" bills that Democrats keep sending to the governor is that they empower unions, not union workers. There is a difference.
Since 1975, workers have been able to choose whether to organize, and with which union, by casting ballots in secret. SB 104, like earlier versions of the bill, would replace those secret-ballot elections with a method known as majority signup or "card check." That would allow union representatives to visit workers in their homes to ask for their signatures, a process that could easily lead to inappropriate pressure or threats.
Congratulations to the Los Angeles Times for getting this one right.
Big Labor is trying to force itself on more workers so that it will be able to collect more fees and dues money to legally "bribe" politicians and support or oppose ballot initiatives through deceptive ads, presentations, and literature. The union wields such power to – surprise – further empower and enrich union management. Unfortunately, too many unions have fallen into the organizational trap of being about serving their management and perpetuating itself rather than improving the service it claims to provide.
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