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.