<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Consolas;
panose-1:2 11 6 9 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoPlainText, li.MsoPlainText, div.MsoPlainText
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Plain Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Consolas;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
span.PlainTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Plain Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Plain Text";
font-family:Consolas;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="2050" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p>Please forward widely …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Imagine if the only place you could campaign for President was <b><i>outside</i></b>
the U.S. That’s just one of the many differences between a real
election and a Union Representation election under the National Labor Relations
Act (NLRA). Yet as our campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act heats
up, the anti-union lobby is claiming that the law is anti-democratic. The
following is from American Rights at Work at <a
href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/resource-library/secret-ballots-arent-enough.html">http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/resource-library/secret-ballots-arent-enough.html</a>.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act have a one-note strategy to derail
reform of our broken labor law system. The anti-union, right-wing,
business lobby simply spins the same broken record of lies, over and over
again. Track 1 is the bogus assertion: "The bill does away with
secret ballot elections, and, elections without secret ballots are
undemocratic." Track 2 is the counterfeit claim: "Elections for union
representation are just like elections for Congress." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>American Rights at Work can't turn off their cacophony, but we can expose
the lies of these lip synchers. First off, a quick read of the
legislation reveals that the bill does <b><i>not</i></b> eliminate secret
ballot elections. The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers the chance to choose
their union formation process: elections or <a
href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/resource-library/why-majority-sign-up-is-needed.html"
target="_self">majority sign-up</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><img border=0
width=350 height=326 id="Picture_x0020_1"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01C8FD33.4FCAA860" alt="election standards comparison"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Second, as the above chart makes clear, <b>current union elections involving
secret ballots bear no resemblance to political elections</b>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The chart illustrates the analysis of University of Oregon political
scientist Gordon Lafer, Ph.D., who measured the current union representation
process involving secret ballots against the range of American democratic
election standards used to elect public officials. In his 2005
study, <a
href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/publications/general/free-and-fair-how-labor-law-fails-u.s.-democratic-election-standards.html"
target="_self"><i>Free and Fair? How Labor Law Fails U.S. Democratic Election
Standards</i></a>, Lafer discovered that current union representation elections
fall alarmingly short of the democratic process Americans envision when we use
the term "election." <b>Concluded Lafer, the presence of the secret
ballots can't overcome the undemocratic nature of the current process</b>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>For more on Lafer's study, <i>Free and Fair? How Labor Law Fails U.S.
Democratic Election Standards</i>, <a
href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/publications/general/free-and-fair-how-labor-law-fails-u.s.-democratic-election-standards.html"
target="_self">click here</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>For more on how the Employee Free Choice Act will uphold democracy, and
strengthen workers' rights to a free choice and a fair chance to form
unions, <a
href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/resource-library/why-workers-need-the-employee-free-choice-act.html"
target="_self">click here</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>TO
UNSUBSCRIBE, send an email to wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Unsub
Workers' Rights".<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>[Workers'
Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show solidarity with
workplace and working class struggles. And these events are opportunities for
JwJ members to fulfill their pledge: <a href="http://www.jwj.org/pledge.html"><span
style='text-decoration:none'>"</span>I'll be there for workers' rights at
least five times a year!<span style='text-decoration:none'>"</span></a>
This is the core mission of Jobs with Justice (<a href="http://www.jwj.org/">www.jwj.org</a>),
affirming that workers' rights are human rights. To subscribe, send an email to
wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Subscribe Worker's Rights".<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Western
Mass Jobs with Justice<br>
640 Page Blvd #101<br>
Springfield MA 01104<br>
(413) 827-0301 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>