"Blinding Arbitration" an editorial today in The Wall Street Journal urges business leaders and Senators to stay alert on card check compromises. The paper calls both elimination of the secret ballot and binding arbitration "unacceptable job killers."

To wit, the problem with the Employee Free Choice Act isn't merely the provision that would allow unions to organize a work site after collecting the signatures of a majority of workers. This has gathered most of the publicity because it would make it easier for unions to intimidate workers to endorse the union without a secret ballot. Equally as damaging, however, is a separate provision known as "binding arbitration." The more accurate term would be federal wage setting.
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At least when the Detroit auto makers signed too-rich contracts, they did it of their free will. Under binding arbitration, the process would land with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an agency whose director is appointed by the President. This would typically mean the appointment of a government arbitrator, who naturally would be subject to political, er, incentives. This would put a government employee, with no real stake in a company's future, in charge of divining the perfect wage and work rules for that company.
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Binding arbitration has its uses in dispute resolution, though it's best suited to resolve arguments over existing contracts -- that is, in tort law. Its track record in labor negotiations is less impressive. Michigan has used binding arbitration for 40 years with police officers and firefighters, and by statute a Michigan arbitration case should finish in under two months. In reality, fewer than one out of four cases are resolved within 300 days. Local governments must delay decisions, as they wait to see if they will be hit with huge back-pay awards.

The binding arbitration rule would also strip workers of valuable rights. They would no longer be able to vote on a contract that their unions negotiated with management and submitted back for rank-and-file approval. This will make union leaders less accountable.
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Some Democrats have stepped back from the "secret ballot" provision, but think they might be able to get away with new arbitration rules. They should understand that both are unacceptable job killers.