Proposed law would make union efforts unfair

As the owner of FlagSource, a small flag production business based in Batavia, I greatly respect the pragmatic approach Congressman Bill Foster has taken on many issues in his first few months in office. In this regard, I would like to ask the congressman to reconsider his support of an ill-conceived bill that I fear will increase intimidation by union organizers in the workplace.

Congressman Foster is co-sponsoring the misleadingly-named Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "card check," which would enable a union to be created once a majority of employees sign cards. Under this bill, the long-held tradition of voting by secret ballot would no longer be necessary, creating a situation where some employees could be denied the chance to make their voices heard on the prospect of unionization.

Union organizers would logically focus on influencing a simple majority of workers to sign cards instead of educating the work force at large.

In order for employees to make informed decisions, they should hear from all sides of the debate and have access to all the facts. If the voice of the business owner is excluded, I feel that the question of unionization could be presented improperly to employees.

As any college kid who has been misled by a credit card company will tell you, it is rather easy to sign something you don't completely understand.

Currently, when 30 percent of employees say they want to join a union, the National Labor Relations Board oversees a secret ballot election over a period of about 40 days in which both the employer and union communicate to employees. If this bill passes, the role of the NLRB in conducting secret ballot elections would be eliminated.

After all that has happened on Wall Street this past year, the idea of decreasing oversight gives me chills. I would hope that such a blunder would also not sit well with Congressman Foster.

Janice M. Christiansen

President and CEO

J.C. Schultz Enterprises/The FlagSource

Batavia