To the editor:
The Salem News editorial board is right about one thing: It's great that workers' voices were heard at Holy Family Hospital ("Hospital vote shows right to organize alive and well," Our View, Friday, Nov. 12).
But the idea that this victory is representative of all — or even most — union elections in this country is wishful thinking at best.
So let's set the record straight. First off, the Employee Free Choice Act would not take away the option of the secret ballot in union elections.
It simply gives workers, not their bosses, the choice to decide whether to form a union through majority sign-up or through an election. And studies show that majority sign-up invites less pressure from management and co-workers than the current National Labor Relations Board election process — a system in which a shocking one-third of employers fire pro-union workers.
As our economy struggles to regain lost ground, we've got to level the playing field in our workplaces so that nurses in Metheun and all nine-to-fivers in Massachusetts have a fair shot at a better life.
That's what the Employee Free Choice Act is all about, and we should be wary of those who oppose this common-sense legislation under the guise of worker protection.
Kimberly Freeman Brown
Executive Director
American Rights at Work
Washington, D.C.
