Welcome to Milwaukee Live

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Differing Reported Polling in Employee Free Choice Act Fight

Legislators counting on poll numbers to help them make up their minds on the Employee Free Choice Act might find themselves banging their heads against the wall instead.

The hot contest over the legislation also known as “card check” may have cooled for the moment, but labor has rolled out a national TV ad and grass-roots campaign to coincide with the congressional recess, and there is still a chance that a stripped-down version of the bill will pass this year.

But those still attempting to sort out their feelings on the matter will find little assistance in the data bytes being served up by the parties on either side.

• “Nearly three-quarters of the public — 73 percent — support the Employee Free Choice Act,” crows the AFL-CIO on its website.

• “Seventy-four percent of voters oppose the Employee Free Choice Act,” concludes research cited by the pro-business Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.

• Fifty-three percent of workers would “definitely” or “probably” vote to have a union in their workplace, opines one survey.

• Nine percent of nonunion workers “would like to belong to a union where they work,” insists another.

At a quick look, it is easy to conclude that a.) the public has lost its collective mind, or b.) someone is cooking the numbers.

But experts say that is not necessarily the case. - Politico Story

No comments: