Who can really vote to end the secret ballot?

The Wall Street Journal reports that some Senate Democrats are having second thoughts about voting for "card check" advocated by labor unions. They supported card check when Senate Republicans could easily filibuster passage and when President Bush could be counted on to veto the measure.

Now that a Democrat will soon occupy the White House and Republicans may not have enough votes to sustain a filibuster, Senate Democrats realize that they may face the wrath of voters if they eliminate the secret ballot in deciding whether to unionize a company. According to the Journal report, "polls show more than 80% of Americans disagree with eliminating union ballots."

Labor union support for the measure belies a traditional union argument. Unions claim that companies pressure their workers to vote against unionization. If such claims were true, unions would obviously favor secret ballots to protect workers from such pressure. By demanding an end to secret ballots, unions admit that pressure on workers comes from the union more than management.

One can hardly imagine any legitimate argument for eliminating the secret ballot from the process of unionization. Neither union nor management can pressure the individual worker casting a secret ballot.