Builders' group concerned about unions

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:15:21 -0400

A builders' group sponsoring robocalls against Kay Hagan is fighting a bill making it easier to unionize.

The Associated Builders and Contractors Free Enterprise Alliance, a Washington-based contractors lobbying association, paid for automated calls to North Carolina residents criticizing the Democratic Senate candidate's record on spending.

The calls are ostensibly issue-oriented, asking listeners to call Hagan about state spending.

Chris Singerling, director of political affairs for the alliance, said that "fiscal restraint at all levels of government" is a key issue for the commercial and industrial contractors in its membership.

At the national level, the group is also concerned about the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier to unionize companies by allowing a "card-check" system rather than a private ballot.

Singerling argued that would make it easier for pro-union employees to pressure coworkers.

"It's absolutely un-American," he said. "You can go and vote for your elected officials on Election Day privately, and no one would know how you voted. But when it comes to your own job, you wouldn't have that right."

The card-check bill passed the House in 2007 but failed narrowly in the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole voted against the bill, while Hagan told the News & Record's editorial board that she would look on the idea "favorably" but stopped short of a full-throated endorsement.

Update: Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said that she supports the bill as a way to "level the playing field for working families."

"Right now, employees can unionize by either a secret ballot or a card check, but the employer is essentially allowed to decide which method will be officially recognized," she wrote in an e-mail to Dome. "This bill simply allows the workers, not the employers, to decide which method to use, and stiffens penalties for intimidation."