EFCA Debated At Forum

The debate over the Employee Free Choice Act reached the Louisville Forum Tuesday.Among other things, the EFCA would allow workers to bypass the secret ballot vote when choosing to organize.Louisville Plate Glass President Bill Stone said eliminating the secret ballot would allow for coercion from union bosses."We have a secret ballot now, let's leave it alone," he said. "It isn't broke, let's not fix it."Kentucky AFL-CIO president Bill Londrigan countered Stone by saying such intimidation is rare."Since 1935, only 42 cases of union intimidation have been filed and adjudicated," he said. "As opposed to the 20 thousand plus cases against corporate intimidation and abuse that goes on every year."The EFCA does allow workers to vote by secret ballot if 30% of them request it. Two versions of the legislation have been introduced in Congress.