Card check legislation introduced in Senate and House of Representatives.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Representative George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as 'card check', in their respective congressional bodies on Tuesday, March 10. The proposal, which has the endorsement of labor special interest groups but has drawn fire from the employer community, would fundamentally rewrite the way American workers organize.

When deciding whether or not to organize a union, employees currently enjoy the privacy of a federally supervised secret ballot vote. The card check legislation, as proposed by Sen. Harkin and Rep. Miller, would eliminate employee's right to secret ballot by replacing it with a petition system. The petition system would make each worker's vote public knowledge. Labor special interests have argued that this change would simplify the process, but others note it would also expose workers to intimidation and coercion by removing their protective privacy rights.

In addition to stripping workers' privacy rights, Sen. Harkin and Rep. Miller's bill would establish a federal arbitration board which would have the power to impose a two year binding contract on employers and employees. Those who oppose the proposal argue that it would unwisely remove the affected parties, the employees and employers, from the negotiation table and replace them with a federal bureaucrat, who would have little knowledge or expertise about either the business circumstances or the needs of the employees.

A recent study by McLaughlin & Associates shows that nearly three-quarters (74%) of union households were opposed to the card check provisions in the Employee Free Choice Act. An overwhelming 88 percent of union households believed that a worker's vote should be kept private during a union organizing election and 85 percent of union households believed that a secret ballot election is the best way to protect the individual rights of workers when they are deciding whether to join a union.

The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) continues active membership in the Agriculture for a Democratic Workplace (ADW), the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. All three groups seek to protect the worker's right to a private ballot when deciding whether or not to unionize by opposing enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).