US business leaders are -stepping up a campaign against proposed labour law reforms, backed by the Democrats, that could significantly enhance the ability of unions to organise workers.
Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have endorsed proposals that would waive an employer's right to insist on a secret workplace ballot on union representation. Instead, a union would only have to secure the signatures of a majority of workers in the proposed bargaining unit.
If the Democratic candidate wins the presidency in November the issue will become a main battleground for business under the new administration.
Business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Retail Federation and the US Chamber of Commerce have formed a lobbying coalition to oppose what they insist is a threat to the principle of the secret ballot.
The Democratic-backed Employee Free Choice Act, dubbed the "card count bill" by employers, last year passed in the House of -Representatives but failed to secure the backing needed in the Senate in a procedural vote that divided along party political lines.
Senior private equity figures have privately warned of the potential impact on US business costs.
Rob Green, a lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, said stopping the proposed changes was the group's top legislative priority. "We see the bill as unnecessary and a big threat to the retail industry," he said.
Surely political candidates would balk if election workers in precincts were allowed to see and intimidate voters at the polls this November for the Presidential election - as they should. Employees deserve the same rights - the right to determine whether they want to join organized labor in an evironment free of coercion.