Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Card check’ ads bypassing Nevada

Both business and pro-union groups are flooding the airwaves with battling ads about the Employee Free Choice Act, but you won't see any of them here.

Despite our large union presence, Nevada doesn't rate. That's because we don't have a Senate race.

If the Democrats win enough seats and Obama takes the White House, then the act is almost sure to pass. So ads from both sides are constant in Minnesota, Oregon and other states with tight races.

The legislation would allow unions to organize companies with "card check," a simple process where workers sign a card saying the want a union. This would replace secret ballot elections.

This would likely increase union membership dramatically and alter the labor landscape, but you wouldn't know it from the television ad war.

Business isn't pushing its typical refrain about unions - bad for productivity, job loss, small business killer - and instead is focusing on secret ballots. It's tangible, something every voter can easily relate to and understand. After all, secret balloting is drilled into us from an early age as a key to democracy.

The Chamber of Commerce is hammering hard on that change, saying it's an open door to intimidation. Its latest ad, which hit the airwaves today, shows a video of a union leader yelling at a cameraman. Earlier ads featured a star from Sopranos.

American Rights at Work, a pro-union group focused on getting the act passed and one of the labor groups airing ads, calls the Chamber's ad a scare tactic meant to mislead the public. Check out two of their ads here.

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