Top 5 political stories — No. 5: Fort Smith union president opposes Card Check

Editor’s note: With the days, weeks and months seemingly passing faster than ever, it can be difficult to remember what happened yesterday much less the past six months. To that end, The City Wire will during the next three weeks highlight the top 5 stories of the first half of 2009 in the following categories: Business/economy, political, and cultural. The top 5 business/economy stories were counted down between July 20 and July 24; the political top 5 between July 27 and July 31; and the top 5 cultural between Aug. 3 and Aug. 7.

The Employee Free Choice Act, possibly the most contentious issue Congress was to face in this term, was filed March 10 by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

One of the national ads used to oppose the Harkin proposal included Neal Catlett, a former president of the union that represented Whirlpool employees in Fort Smith.

The most controversial part of the Act would allow the designation of a union if a majority of employees sign pro-union authorization cards. Once the National Labor Relations Board validates the signatures, a union is created and collective bargaining with the employer begins. (Link here for a more complete review of the proposed legislation.) The “Card Check” provision is so significant, i.e., controversial, that many of those for and against the Act refer to the entire Act as the “card check bill.”

Union officials justify the card check change by arguing that the process to reach a private ballot is flawed in favor of employers. Opponents of card check simply cite the private ballot as a fundamental, if not sacred, component of a democratic society.

And then there was Catlett, a former president of the union representing workers at Whirlpool’s Fort Smith plant who has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the local union.

Catlett, now retired from Whirlpool, opposes card check. He told The City Wire that he has seen plenty of “nonsense” among Whirlpool leaders and union leaders to know that anything other than a secret ballot will lead to intimidation, coercion and corruption on all sides. (Catlett was interviewed for the national ad after his comments were found at The City Wire.)

“I strongly support secret ballots. Period. It doesn’t matter at what level, whether it is voting for a union or the president or your congressman,” Catlett said. “Your ideas should be personal as to if you want a union or don’t want a union.”

Catlett doesn’t argue with union leaders who say the current labor rules make it too tough and are tilted in the favor of business. But he says card check is the wrong way to create a more level playing field. And he also says unions use the same coercion and intimidation used by business owners.

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