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Hagan's surprising positions on labor issues

Mark's story today points out differences between Senate candidates Elizabeth Dole and Kay Hagan on organized labor issues.

Surprising differences.

At least to me. My jaw almost dropped during our interview with Hagan to hear her express support for federal legislation that would override North Carolina law that prohibits collective bargaining by public employees.

I fully expected Hagan, a state senator, to say this is an issue that should be left to the state. Why should Washington dictate rules pertaining to state and local government employees in North Carolina? Besides, in 10 years in the Senate, she's initiated no action to change the collective bargaining prohibition.

On the merits of the issue, I would worry about problems for state and local governments if they have to negotiate contracts with unions representing various groups of public employees -- a budgeting nightmare and bound to raise costs for taxpayers.

On another issue -- a measure pending in Congress that would make card-check elections the only recognized means of determining worker support for a union -- Dole says firmly no but Hagan says she's undecided but favorably inclined.

This would bar use of secret-ballot elections, a move that liberal icon George McGovern faulted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed as "a disturbing and undemocratic overreach."

Clearly, subjecting employees to card-check, where they have to openly commit or refuse to support the union, raises the potential for intimidation or worse. As Americans, we'd never accept anything but secret ballot elections when choosing our leaders or even voting on a bond referendum. When unions so strongly want to do away with secret ballot elections, it's not hard to figure their motives are, as McGovern said, undemocratic. But it's a top-priority issue for them as they desperately want to gain an advantage to reverse their decades-long decline. That's one reasons they're pouring millions and millions of dollars into Democratic campaigns.

Hagan has been a pro-business Democrat in the state Senate, which itself is generally favorable to business interests. Her record indicates she could be an effective, energetic U.S. senator for North Carolina. I just hope she won't feel she has to conform her views to the more liberal national Democratic agenda if she's elected.

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Posted by Doug Clark on Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 10:33 am

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tony moschetti (imported)

September 6, 2008 - 11:49 am EDT

Doug, how can you be surprised by Hagan's positions? These are hardcore liberal positions and Hagan is a liberal. Liberals fear democracy, that's why they have to have "Super" delegates who can overrule the will of the "ordinary" folks!

In 2000 and 2004 Gore, and Kerry won between them ONE "right to work" state. Their goal is to rid themselves of the "right to work" states. How? By doing away with the democracy that soils those states with their "unconscionable" secret ballots for union voting. With secret ballots the union thugs can't intimidate workers to join. With the "Soviet" style check cards, "Soviet" style intimidation is very likely. If you like Socialism, Marxism, and Fascism you love today's Democrats. They should do what the baseball teams do when they wear their "throwback" uniforms. The Democrats can, for special occassions, dress like Marx, Stalin, Mussolini, or Hitler!

Andrew (imported)

September 6, 2008 - 3:38 pm EDT

Under current "secret ballot" proceedings the election is far from democratic because one side gets to campaign as much as it wants while the other side can't at all. It's like an election where one candidate gets unlimited free TV time and the other is under house arrest. In a quarter of union drives there are reports of workers being fired for openly supporting unions, and studies have shown that 36% of those voting against unions said they did so because of intimidation. A friend of mine in charge of training in his company was even told point blank that he would be fired if he said anything favorable about unions to any of his trainees. Reports of intimidation by unions is a drop in the bucket compared to reports of intimidation by management. Think about it, management has actual power over the employees, a union that hasn't come in yet has none. Contrary to much of what been said, the Employee Free Choice Act does not ban employees from choosing a secret ballot as under current law where 30% of employees can sign a petition requesting one. The difference is if they choose card signing, the employer must honor the majority whereas now the company can refuse the union even if 100% of its employees sign cards.

It also should be noted, Tony, that unions played a major, even a vital role in the downfall of communism in Poland. China doesn't allow free unions. In fact, the lack of unions is a hallmark of communism and fascism.

Also I'd like to add that I think the declining unionization and the stagnation of median wages in this country over the last 30 years is no coincidence.

mark (imported)

September 6, 2008 - 4:20 pm EDT

Hagan's view on this issue should not come as a surprise to anyone. The Democrats are pouring a lot of money into negative advertising in this race, and it makes sense that she is going along with what the national committee tells her to support. Hagan has never been business friendly in her legislative career in the NC Senate; she voted for every tax increase that Marc Basnight told her to support, and she trumpeted at every opportunity how she got all this taxpayer money for pork barrel projects back in the Triad (like the local money pit known as the International Civil Rights Museum) when there were budget shortfalls in Raleigh. Taxpayers are still waiting for the Democrats to rescind the rest of the "temporary" sales tax increase enacted in 2001; remember, they only rolled back half of the increase several years later than they promised, and they have pretty much admitted they are not going to roll back the balance of the increase. They are the party of "working families"?!

To say Kay Hagan is "business friendly" is not acurate; her voting record in the NC Senate suggests otherwise. Of course, her latest position supporting the unions will cinch her coming endorsement by the N&R and the rest of the left-wing daily papers in this state. We need another limousine liberal in the US Senate like a hole in the head.

Doug Johnson (imported)

September 6, 2008 - 5:20 pm EDT

I guess that my two life time memberships and many years of cashing union checks,I did not learn a thing. I never had any trouble campaigning for a union. In fact some companies allow you to do on company property. Most do not .Andrew, I can tell you for a fact, unions are losing their grip, because they no longer represent their people. They are more concerned about protecting bad employees than the good employee. I can show you a recent case. The state of NC misdirected 748 million dollars of money that was to go to schools.
I have not heard one outcry from the teachers union. Except for the teamster union, I know of no union that has ever endorsed anything but liberals. Likewise you fail to point out they union dues are given to liberals, and the union member has no say. Union cry about a loss of jobs, yet they encourage legal immigration, that take their work jobs. Its all about the dues.

brian444 (imported)

September 7, 2008 - 1:31 am EDT

Unions in the private sector don't bother me. I'm one of those people who believe that any voting ought to occur in private--however antedeluvian this appears to union supporters--but unions ultimately have to answer to the market, where they are almost uniformly beaten into a capitalist pulp, mainly because they insist on inefficiency in order to "protect" the worker. I still remember a job where I was supposed to pick up a brick saw from a union shop and wasn't allowed to load it myself because the "loader" was on break. (I did, despite their insistence that I "couldn't.")

In the public sector, however, unions are a flat-out cancer because market forces can't be brought to bear.