Hundreds Attend Launch of American's for Prosperity's National Save my Ballot Tour in North Carolina

Greensboro and Raleigh events set the tone for national debate on worker’s right to secret ballot

RALEIGH - Over 600 people attended a series of events in North Carolina, as Americans for Prosperity began its nationwide “Save My Ballot Tour” in opposition to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, also known as “card check,” which would strip workers of their right to a secret ballot in union-organizing elections.

“We have sent a clear message that the right to a secure and secret vote is a fundamental individual right that must not be taken away by Congress or Union organizers,” said Dallas Woodhouse, state director of Americans for Prosperity- North Carolina.

The national tour began in Greensboro, North Carolina, a right-to-work state with low unionization that is the home of Senator Kay Hagan, whose vote on card check legislation is viewed as critical in the U.S. Senate.

AFP presented both Congressman Howard Coble (NC-6) and Senator Richard Burr with the “Defense of the American Worker” Award for their support of workers’ rights to cast secret ballots.

“Some lawmakers want to abolish these private ballot elections under the so-called Employee Free Choice Act and allow unions to organize just by collecting signatures on union cards, giving them the ability to pressure and intimidate workers in public,” said Woodhouse. “We support the secret ballot so every worker has the right to vote on such an important matter without coercion or retaliation.”

The events brought out rank-and-file workers along with business leaders, healthcare workers, construction workers, Chamber of Commerce members and many others-- creating a broad coalition united against card check legislation.

Over 400 people signed letters to Senator Hagan, which will be delivered to her Senate office, hundreds more pledged to call the Senator’s office over the coming days—some calling from the rally on their mobile phones. The Senator’s office could hear the chants of “No Card Check” in the background as dozens of grassroots activists made contact during the event alone.

Americans for Prosperity has taken a strong stance against this bill because not only would workers lose their right to secret ballot elections, but Washington DC bureaucrats would be in charge of dictating working conditions on employees and employers through mandatory binding arbitration.

“The Employee Free Choice Act is just the beginning of government’s stranglehold on American businesses,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. “Binding contracts issued by government bureaucrats would remove the right of union members to vote on their wage levels and working conditions. Where is the ‘Free Choice’ in that?”

One attendee involved in the construction and siding business, Ed Jones, claimed that card check legislation would make it difficult to create new jobs: “We do not need another barrier to creating good jobs in North Carolina,” said Jones, founder of Eastern Surfa-Shield & Facelifters. “This is a bad piece of legislation-- it is wrong for North Carolina and it is wrong for America.”

AFP’s Save My Ballot Tour will continue in Virginia this March and visit nearly 40 cities across the country in the upcoming months.