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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Zoe Bridges-Curry
(202) 822-2127 x122
zbridges@americanrightsatwork.org

Statement on Secret Ballot Amendments

The votes have been counted, and Republicans have taken the House.
There's no denying that the political landscape in this country is about
to shift dramatically. In the wake of the Supreme Court's wildly
unpopular Citizens United decision, the role of well-funded corporate
front groups in shaping last night's results is no secret either.

WASHINGTON

The votes have been counted, and Republicans have taken the House.
There's no denying that the political landscape in this country is about
to shift dramatically. In the wake of the Supreme Court's wildly
unpopular Citizens United decision, the role of well-funded corporate
front groups in shaping last night's results is no secret either.

The so-called secret ballot measures that passed last night in Arizona,
South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah are a telling indication of just
how far those corporate interests will go to maintain a status quo that
protects exploitative employers, no matter the cost to ordinary
Americans. Disingenuously framed as worker protection, these initiatives
aim to amend the state's constitution to restrict workers' rights to
determine how they choose a union. A preemptive strike against the
Employee Free Choice Act--legislation that has yet to pass Congress--these
initiatives were an unwelcome distraction at a time when our focus at
the voting booth should have been the economy.

But what's most critical now is where we go from here: Will
newly-elected officials choose to stand with the voters they represent,
or the undisclosed donors that bankrolled their campaigns? The American
public is demanding action to create a win-win economy that gives us all
a fair shake--not far-right policies that coddle Big Business while
putting gains for working families on the chopping block. It's high time
for our elected officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, to heed
that call.