Workers deserve employers who play by the rules

To the editor:

It is discouraging to read an editorial miscasting the results of the election (“Card check, RIP,” Nov. 5 Review-Journal). While the political landscape certainly shifted dramatically last Tuesday, this election was not a mandate for the anti-worker agenda.

It was a call to fix the economy so working families can get back on track.

Unfortunately, extreme right-wing groups such as Save Our Secret Ballot are funded by corporate interests, and used the elections in Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah to push for policies that hurt workers and distract the debate away from the economy. The secret ballot initiatives referenced in your editorial were a pre-emptive strike against the Employee Free Choice Act — legislation that has not yet passed Congress.

What’s more, we know that the corporate interests that bankrolled these initiatives and channeled unprecedented money into the mid-term elections do not represent all employers.

More than 1,000 employers nationwide have endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act, and a growing number of employers across the country recognizes that respecting their workers’ choice to form a union isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s good for their business.

There’s too much at stake to let the anti-worker agenda, however well-financed, carry the day. Working women and men deserve better: a rebuilt economy with a clear path to the middle class, and employers who play by the rules.

Kimberly Freeman Brown

Washington, D.C.

The writer is executive director of American Rights at Work, an educational and outreach organization dedicated to promoting the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain collectively.