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Legislative Background

STATE OF UTAH LEGISLATION

How this amendment made it on to Utah’s 2010 Ballot During the 2009 Legislative session, Utah’s lawmakers recognized that an individual’s right to cast an anonymous ballot was not protected and was being threatened by federal legislation. In response, the Legislature passed a joint resolution by more than the required 2/3 vote that would allow Utah’s citizens to decide if their right to vote in secret should be protected under the State Constitution.

On November 2, 2010, Utah voters will be asked in the General Election to approve this Constitutional Amendment.

Save Our Secret Ballot (SOS) Campaign believes that a citizen's right to cast a secret ballot is an essential and fundamental principle in our democracy. Utah is not alone. There are currently 15 states considering constitutional amendments that will guarantee citizens the right to cast a secret ballot in all regulated elections.

FEDERAL LEGISLATION

To find more information about the separate, but related, federal legislation called the "Employee Free Choice Act"--better known as the Card Check bill – that as proposed would change how unions are allowed to organize workers in the United States -- go to www.sosballot.org or www.uschamber.com

The principle of a secret ballot is a fundamental element of our system of government. The ability to vote without fear is vital to the American way.

Card Check and the Employees Free Choice Act
The Employee Free Choice Act is federal legislation that is currently working its way through the U.S. Congress. This legislation is widely known as “Card Check” and if passed will drastically change the way labor unions are organized. Its passage provides union organizers with an advantage by allowing them to openly pressure unwilling employees into accepting union representation. Card Check allows organizers to disregard anonymous voting in favor of an open petition sign-up. By sidestepping the secret ballot process, employees will no longer be able to choose or not choose to union representation without the fear of intimidation or retribution by union supporters or management bosses.

Card check removes a number of current federal requirements and restrictions on union organizers, including: eliminating the notification practice, instituting a federally mandated collective bargaining arbitration agreement, and providing an alternative to an employee’s right to cast a secret ballot. Card Check effectively moves organizers out of the boardroom and into the darkrooms and back allies where anything goes. Utah’s constitutional amendment is meant to protect against this federal legislation and enshrines secret ballots as a fundamental constitutionally protected right.

How the Employee Free Choice Act will change union organization tactics

  • Card Check would allow the employees of a company with as little as 10 employees to form a union without going through an anonymous ballot election.

  • Card Check takes away the current requirement that union organizers must notify a company that they are seeking to organize its workforce prior to actual organizing events begin.

  • Card Check would allow union organizers to forgo the secret ballot elections requirement under current law by collecting at least 50% of employees’ signatures on an open petition. Once a union organizer collects at least 50% of the employees’ signatures on an open petition the company’s labor force is automatically unionized, without a companywide vote.

  • Allowing union organizers to use an open petition sign-up form will encourage intimidation and coercion by the organizers in order to avoid losing an anonymous companywide election where they have no control over individual votes.

  • Card Check legislation still requires an anonymous ballot vote to remove union representation.