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Principle Of Secret Elections Worth A Fight To Preserve

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2009

Secret elections are imperfect expressions of the public will, but nothing else is better. They work well in a number of democratic contexts, especially in selecting government representatives and in whether a company's workers want to unionize.

The latter issue has become a flash point for partisan squabbling in Florida and across the country. It is sparked by the realization that a pro-union bill, strongly supported by Democrats, has a good chance to become federal law. Under the change, unions getting enough signatures on union-support cards can declare victory without bothering to hold an election.

Businesses correctly warn that the change would put them at an unfair advantage. In theory, the union could win before the business owner had a chance to make sure workers heard management's side.

The only way Florida can fight back is to make a constitutional issue of it, and that's just what House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, proposes fellow lawmakers ask voters to do. He wants to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2010 that would require a secret vote before unions are allowed to represent workers in private or public workplaces.

If both pass, it's unclear which law would prevail, the no-vote federal statue or the must-vote Florida Constitution. Likely the conflict would be resolved in federal court, perhaps even the Supreme Court.

The battle is worth fighting because an important principle is at stake. The federal bill, called the Employee Free Choice Act, could more accurately be called the Public Choice Act, because workers would have to make their union choice in front of coworkers and union organizers.

Everyone agrees that the show-of-hands approach would lead to more unions representing more workers.

The interesting question is why.

Unions say elections favor the employer, who has time to intimidate and misinform his workforce. But it's telling that the union goal is to dodge elections, not crack down on employer violations through a beefed-up National Labor Relations Board.

Employers say peer pressure among workers talking up the union would put them at a big disadvantage. Even a worker not wanting to pay union dues or worried about union demands that could hurt his company's bottom line might go along just to please friends.

That's the whole point of a secret vote. It allows everyone to vote his or her conscience.

"Intimidation and harassment are wrong whether coming from a union boss or a management boss," says Hasner. "With a secret ballot - Florida's workers are the boss."

Generally, this newspaper has been against junking up the state constitution with amendments more properly handled by the Legislature as simple laws. The constitution is the place for fundamental principles.

But the right to vote is a fundamental principle that is now threatened by a Congress trying to engineer outcomes for a favored constituency.

Hasner is right to stand up for secret elections. We expect the overwhelming majority of Florida voters would agree.

Let's put it on the ballot and find out.

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