[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 28, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H1981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CARD CHECK BILL

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the so-called Employee 
Free Choice Act which provides employees anything but free choice. 
Contrary to its title, the bill would strip workers of their right to 
privacy in union organization elections by removing the option of a 
secret ballot.
  This paradoxical bill will kill private voting rights, making workers 
vote publicly through a mandatory card check where union bosses gather 
authorization cards supposedly signed by workers expressing their 
desire for a union to represent them. Such mandatory card checks make 
workers' personal votes known to their coworkers, their union 
organizers and their employers, stripping workers of the right to 
choose freely and anonymously whether to unionize. This leaves workers 
vulnerable to coercion, pressure, outright intimidation and threats.
  Supporters of the bill claim it is necessary to preserve workers' 
rights, when, in reality, this bill is not about workers at all. 
Rather, it is about Big Labor's last desperate attempt to retain power.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for workers' rights by voting ``no'' on 
this bill.

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