Dead EFCA

Jane Hampsher at Firedoglake has a good post on the politics of EFCA, starring Harry, Arlen and Rahm.

EFCA compromise?

Last week Senator Arlen Specter (D. Pa.) indicated he had worked out a compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act. No bill has been introduced and the details are sketchy. When I spoke at the LSU Labor and Employment seminar in March on EFCA, I predicted Labor, and its allies in Congress, could not succeed with card check recognition which deprives employees of a secret ballot election. Taking away a right to vote in a secret ballot election is a sound bite that resonates with the public and the politicians. The political solution to this impasse has already been served up by the "Bush" Board and it looks like Senator Specter is embracing that path. More after the jump.

President Supports EFCA

President Barrack Obama in a speech given at the AFL-CIO convention, proclaimed "I stand behind the Employee Free Choice Act – because if a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union."

(sigh) Before a union can gain the right to represent workers it must have demonstrable support from a majority of workers. This is so because the union becomes the representative of not only those wanting it but also the non-consenting employees who do not. The card signing portion of EFCA is strictly about what method is permitted to establish majority status. The unions want a one-sided process where they can surreptitiously convince employees to "support" the union often using heavy-handed and abusive tactics to do so. The process is fraught with concern as to whether majority status is real or coerced. We have previously posted on this problem. More after the jump.