Ranchers want union election to be fair

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=75&SubSectionID=767&ArticleID=45916&TM=19252.48


home : • opinion : EDITORIAL Sunday, November 09, 2008
11/6/2008 6:00:00 AM

Ranchers want union election to be fair
Country Natural Beef, a cooperative of ranchers, has stepped into the fray between the United Farm Workers and the Beef Northwest feedlots. The ranchers have volunteered to referee an election between the union and the feedlot, a highly unusual step reflective of Oregon's lack of an agricultural labor relations law.

The absence of such a law leaves wide open the door to practices that can only be condemned. Among them are secondary boycotts, in which the union goes to Beef Northwest's customers such as Country Natural Beef. Then, in a step far beyond the pale, the UFW went to Country Natural Beef's customers such as Whole Foods markets. This practice is forbidden under federal labor relations law.

The UFW's insistence on card-check elections, as opposed to a secret ballot that participants in every free election should enjoy, further emphasizes the need for an equitable state agricultural labor law.

We just went through a general election. Just imagine what it would have been like to have a candidate, or his representative, looking over your shoulder as you voted.

It doesn't sound right, does it?

In the meantime, the Country Natural Beef ranchers are to be loudly applauded for their efforts to find a fair resolution to the stalemate between the union and Beef Northwest. They have designed an election process that is fair and more just than a card-check election, in which employees are forced to sign cards in the presence of union organizers.

The ranchers have also arranged to have Jeff Clark, a retired mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, oversee the election. Workers on Nov. 6-8 were to cast ballots in private booths and deposit their ballots in locked boxes, said Stacy Davies, marketing team leader for Country Natural Beef and manager of Roaring Springs Ranch near Frenchglen, Ore. Keys to the boxes will be held by the Malheur County clerk and counted by the clerk and a neutral third party, Davies said. Election results will be released by Nov. 10, Davies said.

FULL story at link.