Feb 26 2009
SEANC Thanks Hagan for Supporting Worker Intimidation
I received this in email today from a reader. It’s an email he received from Kevin Lecount, the leading Socialist sleaze bag at the State Employees Association of North Carolina. They are the state employees union. His letter is instructing his drones to contact Senator Hagan’s office and thank her for supporting the Employee “Free Choice” Act, which is deceptively named, purposely no doubt. Here is the email and then I shall explain what the man behind the curtain does not want you to know about this very dangerous legislation.
February 26, 2009
Thank Senator Hagan for Supporting Workers!
Dear SEANC Members,
One of the most important pieces of legislation facing Congress this year is the Employee Free Choice Act, which would level the playing field for workers who wish to unionize by increasing the penalties for employers who illegally fire or punish workers for being involved in unions. It would give workers back the choice to join a union or not, by allowing employees-instead of employers-to choose whether a union would be formed through an election or through majority sign up.
We are asking that each and every one of you take just a few quick minutes to write a letter of thanks to Senator Kay Hagan for her strong support of workers. She has stated, both publicly and privately, her support of leveling the playing field and for better protections for workers in North Carolina.
Please write a handwritten note and follow these guidelines:
- Address the letter to Senator Kay Hagan and include your name and address.
- Thank her for her support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
- Include a short description of where you work and why you are a member of SEANC, SEIU Local 2008.
- Include a fact about the Employee Free Choice Act, like one of the following:
- The Employee Free Choice Act would preserve the option of a secret ballot; it would simply let employees make the choice instead of employers.
- Every 23 minutes in America an employer fires or retaliates against a worker for union activity.
- The anti-Employee Free Choice Act forces are the same people who opposed an increase in the minimum wage, fought children’s health insurance and
attacked the stimulus plan. Those same groups attacked Senator Hagan during her campaign over her support of the Lily Ledbetter Act.
- Keep the letter short, and make sure that it is legible. If it is too long or tough to read, the senator’s staff is less likely to read it.
We are going to hand deliver the entire collection of notes from SEANC members to make sure they have the maximum impact with the senator and her staff. Please write your note and send it to the SEANC office by fax, e-mail or mail by March 6. Direct your faxes to Will Cubbison, Member Action Department Intern.
Thank you,
Kevin LeCount
Director ofMember Action & Politics
The letters are due to SEANC by Friday, March 6!
View a sample letter:
http://www.seanc.org/docs/iContact%20links/2009-2-26%20letter%20to%20Kay%20Hagan.pdf.
Fax or e-mail your letter to Will Cubbison: 800-296-4999 or wcubbison@seanc.org.
This bill is vital to the interests of SEANC, SEIU Local 2008, because more union members in our state will mean even more support for our goals.
SEANC Calendar of Events: [http://www.seanc.org/calendar/]
Kevin LeCount
SEANC Central Office
PO Drawer 27727
Raleigh, NC 27611
800-222-2758
For those of you unfamiliar with the Employee Free Choice Act, it basically allows union organizers to unionize a shop without a vote. Essentially, they can just walk around and collect signature cards from people who “support” unionizing the shop and if they get cards from a 50% + 1 majority they can unionize without an election, thus eliminating the need for a secret ballot.
Now let’s think about this just for a second. If your place of employment has workers who are trying to unionize your workplace and they start going around convincing and pressuring others to support them are you likely to express your true intentions in a secret ballot or face to face with someone pushing you to sign a card and knowing if you refuse?
The ramifications of this are obvious. Naming this the Employee Free Choice Act was a bald faced lie. It does exactly the opposite. It reopens the doors to the good ole Jimmy Hoffa days of union intimidation where you’d have Rocky standing outside a door whistling and flipping a coin in his hand while a couple of his buddies are on the other side working a guy over to get his support for the union. I’m not making this up; this stuff really happened.
How virtually eliminating the process of a secret ballot and voter privacy amounts to a free choice sure stumps me. This bill is payback by the Democrats to reward the unions for their support over the years. There is no free choice here. LeCount knows it and so does Kay Hagan.
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By the e-mail you would think that SEANC members had no formal education at all and needed all this guidance from kindergarten teacher LeCount in order to write a letter.
It would have much easier to have had SEIU staff write the letter at the SEANC office and send it out for signatures.
But, Dana (Stern) Cope understands state employees and will lead his 50% + 1 straight to the pits of Union hell.
[Reply]
I won’t argue there were problems with the card check system. But unions leveled the playing ground for workers. Even here in North Carolina it is harder for an employer to say to a worker, “Shut up and do your job, there’s ten men waiting for yours if you don’t.”
Worker intimidation by employers takes a much more insidious role: performance evaluations. A manager who doesn’t like an employee can just write, “not a team player,” and either fire or deny pay raises to employees without providing a shred of proof other than an opinion.
Management can ignore worker complaints about safety with impunity.
Unions have their uses. They can make management listen to employees, and insist on fair treatment and pay.
Unions did go too far at one point, which is why a lot of people left unions. Unions are waking up and becoming more responsive to their members, and willing to work with employers.
Eventually, North Carolina will unionize, whether with elections or card check. It’s not a bad thing, unless you are an employer who doesn’t want to stop exploiting workers.
[Reply]
Someone had better do something about this insurance i worked for tthe State for 42 yrs. Do not draw enough to make ends meet, now you want the rest of it to go for Ins. and pay less . Medicare pays every thing now .they do pay good for medecine, that is ALL.
Thank you
Clarence
[Reply]