Regarding the Oct. 3 People's Forum letter captioned "Outdated labor laws": The Employee Free Choice Act, more appropriately described as the "card check bill," would take away employees' individual rights to a federally supervised private ballot when deciding whether to join a union. Once in the workplace, if unions refuse to negotiate with employers the legislation would impose government arbiters and employers would lose their right to make far-reaching decisions about their companies.

Millions of workers could be forced into unions through coercion. Freedom of choice for individual workers should be at the center of labor relations policy and a secret-ballot election should remain the only method of gauging choice.

Passing legislation to make it easier for unions to swell their membership rolls and drive up costs would only do more harm at a time Americans can least afford it. Look no farther than the steel, airline and automotive industries to realize what damage mass unionization does to industries and states.

North Carolina's economic prosperity is linked to the fact that our state has the lowest unionization rate in the country. Numerous studies point to it as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining good jobs. If the card check bill passes, it won't just harm employees, it will also harm North Carolina's business climate and economy.

Lew Ebert

President and CEO, N.C. Chamber

Raleigh

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