A secret ballot election is one where individuals get to make a private choice based on their own personal decision, and this is how most unions certification elections work. However, unions can also become certified to be the exclusive bargaining representative of a workplace through a process known as "card check." Under this method, unions can "win" an election when a majority of the workers sign authorization cards. The significant downside to elections via card check is that workers can easily be pressured, intimidated and even coerced into signing cards because they are not afforded the privacy of a voting booth.
Unions have repeatedly lobbied to make it easier for them to use card check elections, and a new bill in Congress would do just that: the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act. This report explains why certain provisions of the PRO Act are problematic, and why it is important to protect the right of workers to use the secret ballot for union certification elections.
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