Jax Daily

Senate panel cuts debate on ‘card check’

Wed, Mar 25, 2009 by News Service of Florida

A bill promoted as a protection of the democratic right to secret ballot elections was not handled very democratically by a Senate panel that cut off debate Wednesday so it could approve the measure before its time expired, several unions members said after the vote.

The bill (SJR 1908), which seeks to guarantee that unionization could only occur through a secret ballot, was one of 14 pieces of legislation on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s agenda for its two-hour meeting Wednesday. Most of the measures were relatively free of discussion and easily approved, but as it has been in every committee stop this year, the “card check” bill was neither.

Members of several Florida unions, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the AFL-CIO and the Association of Federal, State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), lined up to oppose the bill, which was the last item taken up by the committee. But pressed against a deadline of 12:15 p.m., the panel approved a motion for a time certain vote of 12:13 p.m.

The member who made that motion, Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, then moved to reconsider the deadline for the vote as it approached, but her second motion failed 4-4, much to the chagrin of the unions.

(more…)