The Wonk Room

Rep. Price: It’s ‘Safest’ To Ensure That Workers Don’t Have A Choice When Unionizing

Today, the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in Congress, and the right-wing misinformation machine has gone into high gear in an attempt to defeat the legislation.

The number one falsehood perpetuated about the bill is that it would eliminate the secret ballot in union organizing, posing a fundamental threat to democracy. In that vein, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) claimed today that because “85 percent of Americans” believe “you ought to have to have a secret ballot for the formation of a union,” the Employee Free Choice Act shouldn’t be enacted:

We believe you ought to have to have a secret ballot for the formation of a union. That’s what the American people believe. 85 percent of American people believe that ought to occur. That’s the safest for employees.

Watch it:

So a vast majority of Americans believe in secret ballot elections. Great! They will still have that option under the Employee Free Choice Act. After all, the bill simply gives employees the choice of how they want to form a union — whether by secret ballot election or by signing cards of consent — instead of leaving the decision up to their employers. And if we’re getting into poll numbers, 73 percent of Americans also approve of the bill’s main provisions.

As Rachel Maddow asked last night, “have you guys actually read the bill? Because if the employees still want the election thingy, they can still do that”:

Do you want its Cliffs notes version? Here it is from the House Committee on Education and Labor. Quote, “The Employee Free Choice Act does not abolish the NLRB election process. That process would still be available.” [...] It does not abolish the secret ballot. People get a choice. It‘s pretty simple thing to explain actually.

It’s pretty remarkable that Price feels okay touting the opinion of the American people, while disapproving of legislation that would allow them to act on that opinion.