Peer Pressure

Peer pressure.  If you’re like me, this term evokes images of high school and the desire to conform, rebel, or just be accepted.  Many of us now relate peer pressure with our teenage sons and daughters, an abstract concept with which students are left to grapple and overcome.  The reality is that the pressure to conform never ends and the consequences of resistance only increase.

As citizens of a democratic nation, Americans have the right to elect their public officials in secrecy and without coercion.  While no one would dream of exposing American voters to public ridicule or intimidation at the voting booth, this is exactly what Democratic leaders are proposing to force upon American workers.

The House of Representatives tomorrow will consider the grotesquely misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act.”  Contrary to the title’s implications, this measure seeks to repeal employees’ rights to hold secret ballot elections when deciding whether to form a union and leaves them exposed to — you guessed it — peer pressure.

Evidence suggests that under the so-called “card check” agreement, employees are likely to be coerced or misled, often being falsely told the forms are non-binding “statements of interest,” requests for an election, or even benefit forms or administrative paperwork.

Unlike the ridicule a high school student resisting peer pressure may experience, workers resisting union efforts are often intimidated, threatened, and even attacked.

The “Employee Free Choice Act” — more accurately called the “Employee Intimidation Act” — will come to the floor of the House without secret ballot protections or worker protections.

As the American people learn the truth about this proposal, I only hope Democrats are susceptible to the friendly peer pressure of their voting constituencies.