A little bit more on Card check

The reason for the controversy is pretty clear to organizations that have ever dealt with the spector of having a union in their facility. A little deeper dive can help you to understand why this bill is so significant and why it could go from not even a consideration in your business to a reality in a nano-second.

Today the NLRB (National Labor Relation Board) requires 30% signed union authorization cards as showing interest for secret ballot elections. The employer can then say "great" let's have a union or call for a secret ballot.

The reality is that in most instances where companies battle unions, the union needs about 60% plus to have any shot of getting a union secret ballot vote. The reason is that getting an employee to sign a card is pretty easy. Assuming they do not intimidate anyone, there is no downside to signing. Someone shows up at a picnic at your house and asks you to sign a card, no harm done. Maybe you sign just to get back to grilling. The announcment of a ballot allows the company to present their side of things as well. The secret ballot avoids any sort of "go along" momentum if people really don't want a union.

Under this bill all they need is 50.1% of cards signed and the union exists for two years. Once signed that means you have to start negotiating a collective bargaining agreement and you have no choice. If you can't negotiate one you are forced to accept what an arbitrator decides.

You can imagine how drastic a change this is for a company. If you are not even on the radar today, with this bill you might be.