Recently, former West Wing actors Martin Sheen and Bradley Whitford lobbied in favor of the woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (better known as the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill) at a press conference with so-called American Rights at Work, the same militant lobbying group which Labor Secretary Hilda Solis played a formal role while a member of Congress.

CNS News asked the actors why they support a bill which would effectively eliminate the secret ballot in workplace unionization drives.  Whitford responded (emphasis mine),

The notion that the labor movement is out to abolish their own members’ rights to a secret ballot just doesn’t pass the laugh test. And people who are propagating the rumor that it does, their sudden compassion for worker’s rights is just not believable.

There are so many problems with that one, incredibly misinformed sentence.  As I explained last week, the card check bill makes the secret ballot a virtual dead letter.  But Whitford's comment shows he is willing to believe whatever union bosses tell him.  Union bosses routinely work to undermine employee freedom -- it's nothing new, except to hardcore union partisans.

But Whitford also made another error.  In a sense, he's right that the labor movement is not "out to abolish their own members' rights to a secret ballot" -- but only because the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill doesn't have anything to do with unions' "own members."  The bill would eliminate the secret ballot for prospective members as well as independent-minded workers who do not want the union's "representation."  Union bosses want to destroy the secret ballot in unionization campaigns so that they can intimidate and trick employees into signing cards.

Fortunately, Sheen and Whitford just play politicians on TV.

Now we know why union bosses don't believe in the secret ballot: they don't really know what a secret ballot looks like.

Film crew union IATSE recently conducted a vote of its members to ratify its contract proposal with Hollywood producers. The union bosses sent each member a large packet containing the proposal, a ballot, and two reply envelopes.

After marking the ballot, members were instructed to put the ballot in a white envelope (which does not include any identifying information), and then put the white envelope in a blue envelope (which does include identifying information).

The problem? The white envelopes were see-through, meaning union bosses could automatically throw out votes opposing the union boss line. Worse, because the outer envelope contains the voter's name, union goons would also know which members voted which way.

No wonder union bosses complain the secret ballot doesn't work.

If a recent article in Variety is any indication, it sounds like Hollywood heavyweight George Clooney may share the late Charlton Heston's distaste for forced unionism. He told Variety about his recent decision to resign his formal union membership:

"When your own union doesn't back what you've done, the only honorable thing to do is not participate."

However, Clooney must still pay some union dues since California has no Right to Work law banning forced union dues. The article continues:

Clooney says he would have quit the WGA altogether if he could, but
that would have prevented him from working on all WGA-covered
productions.

If George Clooney or anyone else would like more information or request free legal aid, they can click here.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix details the Foundation's efforts to help Sai Ly Acosta and other musicians in Hollywood after union officials indicated they would be arrested for showing up for rehearsal.

ABC has apparently issued a memo advising writers wishing to continue working during the ongoing strike of their right to do so after resigning from formal union membership. States the memo:

"The decision whether to join or not join the strike is an individual decision for each person to make."

Unfortunately, many employees across America do not know about these rights or are stonewalled in excercising them by union officials. Anyone that does not want to walk off the job during a union-ordered strike can learn more about their right to continue working here.