Thirty percent (30%) of Americans say it is fair to form a union without having a secret ballot vote if a majority of a company’s workers sign a card saying they want to unionize.
But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of adults do not believe it is fair to form a union without a secret vote. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Republicans believe it’s unfair to establish a union without a secret ballot. Democrats and adults not affiliated with either party are more closely divided, although pluralities of both groups agree with the majority of Republicans.

These findings are largely unchanged from March when the new Congress began publicly discussing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) which would eliminate the legal requirement for a secret ballot vote to form a union.

Unions contend that it is too difficult for a workplace to unionize and that having a majority of employees sign cards indicating a willingness to have a union is enough. Critics say this will lead to intimidation, which a secret ballot helps prevent.

Americans are closely divided over whether Congress should change the law to make it easier for workers to form or join a union: 34% believe the law should be changed, but 36% do not. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are not sure.

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Just 21% of all Americans believe the federal government should be allowed to mandate an agreement defining pay and benefits for a company’s employees if the company and their employees’ union cannot reach an agreement on a contract within 90 days. Fifty-six percent (56%) are opposed to giving the government this power which is another provision of the EFCA.

Two-thirds of both Republicans and unaffiliated adults oppose giving the government the power to mandate agreements setting pay and benefits, but Democrats are more closely divided: 30% think the government should have this power, but 42% disagree.

The drive for the EFCA stalled in the spring, largely because of opposition from conservative Democrats, and union leaders who are scheduled to meet with President Obama today hope to get it back on track. The addition of Al Franken as the 60th Senate Democrat may limit chances for opponents to filibuster the measure.

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