Thanks to Media Mouse for reporting that on Thursday the Republican-led Michigan Senate passed a resolution urging Michigan’s congressional delegation to vote against the federal Employee Free Choice Act which would make it easier to form labor unions. 

“I introduced this resolution to help protect the sacred American tradition of a private ballot,” the bills sponsor, Sen. Mark C. Jansen (R-Gaines township) said in a statement “Senate Republicans believe the right to vote is a personal and private matter.”

Current law requires that a National Labor Relations Board supervised election be held before a group can have their union representation certified. Workers rights advocates say this requirement puts workers at a disadvantage because their bosses can saturate the workplace with anti-union materials before the election and can intimidate or fire union organizers. Under the Employee Free Choice Act workers will be able to form a union by simply having a majority sign cards stating their union affiliation.

As my colleague David Weigel of The Washington Independent reported today, opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act are pursuing a mixture of strategies. Some, like Republican State Rep. Eric Bedingfield of South Carolina, are focusing on developing state laws to block implementation of the expected new federal labor law. Others are working to build opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act (also known as ’the card check bill’) in the U.S. Senate. The House, with a strong Democratic majority, is expected to pass the bill.

Though a tough and well-funded fight is expected over the card check bill. Some organizations, even in conservative West Michigan, are becoming more accepting of union organizing efforts.

West Michigan Rising has this account of how on Grand Rapids company recently demonstrated how unions would be organized under the Employee Free Choice Act.

Local 70 of the Bakery Confectionary Tobacco Grain Millers Union (BCTGM-AFL-CIO), under the leadership of Business Agent Orrin Holder and the company, Roskam Baking Company, agreed to a simple card check of employees who worked at Roskam’s new cereal and snack bar manufacturing facility. Roskam, a well known copacker for Kellogg’s, General Mills, and Quaker Oats has facilities throughout Michigan, which are organized by the BCTGM.