If the majority of Pennsylvania residents (55 percent according to the latest Susquehanna Polling and Research Inc. poll) oppose Card Check, why are Arlen Specter and Bob Casey planning to vote in favor of the job-killing bill?

Do they know better than their constituents? Hasn't Pennsylvania lost enough jobs? Who do they represent anyway? Big Labor?

If Specter and Casey won't stand up for Pennsylvania workers and vote against the Employee Free Choice Act, it's time for Pennsylvania voters to elect new U.S. Senators.

Former U.S. Sen. George McGovern, a liberal icon and the Democratic Party's 1972 presidential candidate, blows the whistle on his party's efforts to force unions on American companies with the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as "Card Check."

From McGovern's column in The Wall Street Journal:

The recent news that Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has become a member of the Democratic caucus has given new life to legislation that many thought had been put to rest for this Congress -- the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

Last year, I wrote on these pages that I was opposed to this bill because it would eliminate secret ballots in union organizing elections. However, the bill has an additional feature that isn't often mentioned but that is just as troublesome -- compulsory arbitration.

This feature would give the government the power to step into labor disputes where employers and labor leaders cannot reach an agreement and compel both sides to accept a contract. Compulsory arbitration is bound to trigger the law of unintended consequences.

Read the full column, "The 'Free Choice' Act Is Anything But," at the newspaper's Web site.

Rep. Curt Schroder, R-155th District, issued the following press release and accompanying video about his efforts to block the job-killing card check law:

Schroder Returns Fire, Blasts Protesters at Anti-Card Check Rally
Lawmaker aims to stop federal plan to take away secret ballot

HARRISBURG - Surrounded by hundreds of protesters at a Capitol rally, Rep. Curt Schroder (R-East Brandywine) had to shout over and face down those who aim to take away a worker's right to a secret ballot when deciding the issue of unionization.

Schroder, an outspoken critic of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act of 2009, says the law would open the door to union pressure and intimidation of workers by taking away the rights of workers to a secret ballot. At a rally on the Capitol steps, Schroder and other speakers had to shout to be heard over the bullhorns and loud protests of supporters of the union-fueled legislation. Hundreds of protesters were bused to the Capitol in an effort to silence Schroder and other defenders of individual workers' freedoms.

"Senator (Mike) Folmer and I have introduced resolutions to urge our federal representatives to oppose card check and this abomination, which is nothing more than a big union power grab, a big labor boss power grab," said Schroder. "We are not going to stand by and let individual workers' rights be sacrificed at that alter."

Current federal law requires the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct a secret ballot election to determine the will of employees when an employer contests union representation. The Employee Free Choice Act would remove the secret ballot, replacing it with a system that would allow unions to obtain signed union authorization cards from the workers. The 'card check' legislation would require a simple majority of workers' signatures for unionization to occur.

"An individual workers' right to a secret ballot is sacrosanct in this country and it cannot be taken away," said Schroder.

Two prominent attorneys offer another reason the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 -- also known as "card check" -- should be rejected by Congress: It's unconstitutional.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey argue that the card check legislation that denies workers the right to a secret ballot violates the First Amendment and probably the Fifth and 14th Amendment due process clauses too.

From their column:

There can be little doubt that the act of voting on important issues is a form of symbolic speech, residing at the very core of the interests protected by the Constitution. The secret ballot has not only been adopted in federal and state elections, it is recognized as a fundamental human right in a number of international instruments. This includes the U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States is a party, that requires secret

ballot voting as "guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors."Read the full column at the newspaper's Web site.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is pleased with Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to oppose the job-killing EFCA (aka Card Check) bill.

"CDW appreciates Sen. Specter's principled decision to protect worker privacy and secret ballot elections," said Brian Worth of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.

Without Specter's support, the Democrats don't have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass the bill.

Coalition for a Democratic Workplace Applauds Senator Specter for Opposing Anti-Worker Card Check Bill

Rep. Joe Pitts is an original cosponsor of The Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 1176), which would protect the rights of workers to have secret ballot elections when determining whether to form a union. It prevents unionization based solely on "card check," a process that requires only a simple majority of worker signatures on cards without any privacy in order to unionize a workplace. The Secret Ballot Protection Act also bars recognition of a union that was formed without a secret ballot election.

The Employee Freedom Action Committee says the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) backed by Big Labor will take away workers' rights to a secret ballot and drive more American companies overseas, costing hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Democrats support the bill because they are owned by Big Labor, but can the U.S. afford to lose more jobs?

It's time to force your member of Congress to stand up for you instead of special interests. Urge them to vote no on the EFCA.

Union Watchdog Group Criticizes Backers of the Employee Forced Choice Act

"If the Employee Free Choice Act is signed into law, recent studies show that it will have a devastating impact on the U.S. economy and most likely result in the loss of jobs in the commercial and industrial construction industry," said Jerry Gorski, 2009 ABC National Chairman and President of Gorski Engineering Inc., Collegeville, Pa. "This new Web site is an important tool in keeping the public informed and getting them involved in the political process so they can voice their opposition to this legislation."

ABC Launches Website to Educate Public on Card Check Legislation

With the exception of Big Labor and its Democratic Party allies in Congress, the majority of Americans, including union workers and people who supported Barack Obama, support the right to a secret ballot in the workplace.

Coalition for a Democratic Workplace: Big Labor Ignores Worker Rights ... Again