2008.12.31
Discuss Wednesday's editorials
No threat to Virginia's union rules
Leave the state constitution out of the fight over labor organizing procedures.
Congress appears ready to strip workers of their right to secret ballots before forming unions. There are principled reasons to oppose the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, and then there is the strategy chosen by Virginia Del. Chris Saxman. The Staunton Republican claims the act threatens Virginia's right-to-work law. He therefore has prefiled legislation for the upcoming General Assembly session that would elevate the law into the state constitution where, presumably, it would be safe from federal meddling. Despite Saxman's anti-union fears, the only thing Virginia's law and the proposed federal act share in common is that they have to do with unions.
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Kaine should have abstained as host
His involvement in a fundraiser during the General Assembly session appears to be prohibited.
According to a Washington Post blog entry, Virginia Republicans are crying foul because Gov. Tim Kaine is one of the hosts of an inaugural fundraising party for the Virginia Democratic Party. They say Kaine's role conflicts with a state prohibition against legislators and executive officials raising contributions during the General Assembly session. The unnamed leaders on Tim Crain's Virginia Politics blog appear to have a point.
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All Union ballots should be secret. Coercion would become obsolete.
I also wish that ANY, including public employees in Virginia, could join real unions, instead of the polictically-tilted venues that are often offered. Plus, the 'chosen few' get the perks, as members get little. It's sad.
After all, national elections don't require a signed ballot. However, I believe that anyone that votes should get a receipt! If I can get a receipt for a pack of chewing-gum, there's something wrong when one can't get accountability for their vote. No matter what kind of vote, a receipt should, by law, be given to the voter. It should show their selection, and use, for instance, a voter number that is assigned to them. The machinery is often portable, allowing smaller labor-related industries that are spread about the Commonwealth to kept costs low (yea, I know, that's the 'catch 22' of public employee's not being allowed to join real unions: Commonwealth). As of now, a high percentage of people just aren't voting, for some of the reasons I've mentioned.
Comment by gene middleton — December 31, 2008 @ 1:07 pm