FACTS ARE MISCONSTRUED: Maris Stella Korb, Fargo

I can understand, but not appreciate, why businesses and Chambers of Commerce are lobbying against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).  It threatens their power.  What I do not understand is why they feel compelled to misinterpret the facts.

NO ONE is going to lose his/her right to the secret ballot!  The Bill distinctly says that if 30% of the workers desire a secret ballot, that shall be the process used even though card checks are presently the standard procedure.  The big difference will be that in the future, the employees and not the employer will determine when this voting occurs.  No longer will management be able to question the authenticity of a card-check decision and call, instead, for another vote more to their liking.

Unfortunately in the past, management has too often used a delaying tactic aimed at discouraging workers to vote for unionization.  Employers used this pause-time to intimidate, harass and even fire those who were advocating establishing a union.  ND workers are especially vulnerable to this behavior because our Right to Work laws enable management to dismiss workers for any or no reason.  The worker has no defense.

To restore balance between management and labor in this country, it is imperative that the EFCA be passed.  Wide disparity in wages, alone, make it a justice issue.  The fact that it is a right and not a privilege for workers to unionize, makes it a moral issue.  When facts are misrepresented and propaganda is promulgated, the issue becomes distorted and confusing.  This Bill is too important to be misunderstood.