Senate passes union bill (card check for Ca. farmworkers Schwarzenegger to veto)

http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=616&ArticleID=50917&TM=45722.46

Heat deaths prompt introduction of ‘Card-check’ system legislation

Wes Sander
Capital Press

Lawmakers and labor leaders cite the heat-related deaths of farmworkers in recent years, including six last year in California, as reason for urgency in making it easier for workers to organize.

SB789, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, would allow agricultural workers the option of a "card-check" system for voting on union representation.

Senators approved the bill on April 23, sending it to the Assembly on a party-line vote of 23-14, with only tepid resistance offered by Republicans. But there's a good chance it won't succeed: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed two similar proposals.

The system involves union representatives approaching workers and urging them to sign cards in support of the union. The state's Agricultural Labor Relations Board would verify the signatures before approving the representation, if a majority of an employer's workers signed cards.

Under current law, a majority of workers must approve representation in an election using a secret ballot.

Supporters of the card-check system argue that it offers fewer chances for employers to interfere. During the time required for an election to take place, employers have ample opportunity to coerce workers, they argue.

Opponents say workers can just as easily be coerced by organizers. They say the card-check system rejects the personal privacy offered by the secret ballot.

"Why do we continue to go to a system for union employees that actually far exceeds the system that we have for our very own voting process ... as a state and as a nation?" said Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced.


FULL story at link.

Yes, the labor leaders can coerce the workers but only the employers can take the job away from the laborer. That's the big difference in coercion.