What’s Left of McGovern? - David Freddoso



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David Freddoso

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October 10, 2008 7:15 A.M.

What’s Left of McGovern?
Barack Obama is there with Big Labor.

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Poor George McGovern. For some time, people were comparing Barack Obama to the former candidate and his left-wing campaign of 1972. But as it turns out, Obama is far more liberal than McGovern was.

This fact is highlighted by a new ad campaign featuring McGovern as an advocate for American workers, in opposition to a bill long sought by labor unions that would limit their freedoms when it comes to unionization. The bill, known by the misleading name of the “Employee Free Choice Act,” would help unions take over American shops by eliminating the requirement that the employee vote take place by secret ballot.

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Labor unions have declined in relevance and influence for private sector workers over the last 50 years — they now represent just 7.5 percent of private sector workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor leaders hope that the Employee Free Choice Act will reverse this trend. And under an Obama administration, they are likely to get what they want.

Currently, unions attempting to organize shops must allow employees a secret-ballot election. Under the Employee Free Choice Act, union leaders could simply convince a majority of workers to sign cards — with no privacy — in what is known as the “card check” system.

This is what worries McGovern, a longtime ally of labor unions.

“I’m concerned about a bill in Congress that would effectively eliminate an employee’s right to a private vote when deciding whether to join a union,” McGovern says in the new ad. “It is hard to believe that any politician would agree to a law denying millions of employees the right to a private vote.”

Workers around the country, including in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, have complained of union officials using misleading tactics in order to get them to sign cards. For example, workers have been told that if they sign, they will receive more information about the union — not that they are voting for unionization.

McGovern’s stance on this issue stands in contrast to the posture Democrats have adopted in Congress. This is why the Employee Free Choice Act offers an excellent example of the “change” that an Obama administration will bring about.

When it came up in the U.S. House last year, the Employee Free Choice Act passed by a very wide margin, 241 to 185. In the Senate, it failed after receiving 51 votes out of a needed 60 for cloture. Every Democrat present supported it, as did one Republican, Arlen Specter (Pa.). One Democrat, Sen. Tim Johnson (S.D.), was not present.

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