Political action once again pays off, as public employees in Massachusetts discovered recently when Gov. Deval Patrick — elected in November 2006 with the strong support of labor, including AFT Massachusetts — signed into law legislation that permits public-sector employees to become unionized through a “card check” written authorization. The law in Massachusetts is a modified state version of the national Employee Free Choice Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in March but failed to secure the 60 votes in the Senate needed to invoke cloture and allow a vote on the bill. Patrick signed the bill in September at the state AFL-CIO’s convention in Marlborough, Mass. Notably, the state Legislature originally approved the car-check authorization in 2005, but the bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney. Massachusetts is the latest in a number of states that have passed majority authorization (including New Hampshire and Delaware) or that have approved collective bargaining for state employees.