Harvey Peeler

The Senate passed a bill Wednesday that Republicans say will preempt future attempts by the federal government to promote labor unions in South Carolina by any other method than through a secret ballot.

Card check, so-called because of federally proposed legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act, allows union managers to recognize employees’ desire to organize by publicly displaying a card, and thereby bypassing a ballot election.

That legislation has not passed the U.S. Congress, but South Carolina is a right to work state and Senate Republicans wanted to guarantee the secret ballot process, currently outlined in state law, by making it part of the state Constitution.

The resolution, roiled by Senate Democrats as a meaningless waste of time, passed the Senate with 33 votes. It required a two-thirds vote to pass.

SC Politics Today