A study funded by organized labor released Monday argued that an Illinois labor law similar to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) resulted in none of the drawbacks the law's opponents fear.
University of Illinois Professor Robert Bruno asserted in a report that the Illinois program "has worked without systematic or episodic employer or union abuse," particularly in regards to the "card check" provision in the legislation.
Conservative and business groups have alleged that that provision would strip union members of a private vote in union elections, and open the door to voter intimidation.
"Today's report shows that corporations are throwing more lies to keep workers from forming unions," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in a statement accompanying the report. "Workers form unions to bargain for a better life, not because of outside intimidation. Workers need the majority sign up provision because it gives workers the choice of how to form a union, not corporations."
A spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO acknowledged Monday that the study was commissioned by organized labor groups, and partly funded by one of the AFL-CIO's arms. Bruno has also previously spoken out in favor of EFCA.
Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said Tuesday that he'd met with Sen. Arlen Specter yesterday before the Pennsylvania lawmaker announced his intention to switch parties.
Hoffa said today's news had left the impression that there were new opportunities available to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or "card check").
"I have been talking with Senator Specter about his position on the Employee Free Choice Act since his March decision to oppose the bill," Hoffa said in a statement. "On Monday, I met with Senator Specter in Pennsylvania and was joined by three workers who would be helped by the legislation."
"I believe today's announcement shows that there is still opportunity to help working people in this country through passage of the Employee Free Choice Act," he said.
Organized labor is taking positively to news that Sen. Arlen Specter will switch parties, despite Specter's indication that he will not switch votes on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
"Throw out all the common wisdom about Employee Free Choice Act...," wrote the AFL-CIO's Eddie Vale.
"My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans," Specter said in a statement. "Unlike Senator Jeffords
The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI), a key opponent of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), sought to build momentum by asking hundreds of supporters thousands to call their lawmakers.
After EFCA supporters lost two key votes in Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) in the past month, WFI is hoping to slam the door on the prized piece of union legislation with a post-recess campaign.
"You can make sure our elected representatives don't lose sight of the fact that there is no compromise on eliminating worker rights by calling their offices and telling them your opinion on Card Check," WFI Deputy Director Jason McBride wrote in an email. "This quick phone call can make a big difference by ensuring Senators continue to hear your voice."
Of course, unions have far from conceded both the recess or the fight for EFCA. Organized labor groups also made hundreds of thousands of calls during the recess, and will continue to do so "with no slow down in sight," according to a spokesperson.
Read the script for WFI callers after the jump.
Read more...
Republicans will lose the Pennsylvania Senate seat if Republican candidate Pat Toomey wins his primary against Sen. Arlen Specter next year, Specter warned Thursday.
Specter threatened that his defeat would lead directly to the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or "card check"), as well as increased taxes and spending.
"If Toomey is the Republican nominee, we lose the seat in the fall," Specter said during a Thursday afternoon press conference in Pennsylvania. "If he’s the nominee we lose the seat and you have card check, and you have tax increases and you have all of the big Obama spending programs."
Specter acknowledged his more aggressive tack toward Toomey this cycle, compared to his slow response out of the gate in his 2004 faceoff against Toomey.
"This time we won’t be ambushed," Specter said. "So Fasten your seat belts fellows."
A spokesman for Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Wednesday it is "premature" to say whether the freshman senator will support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
"No one knows what the bill may look like when it gets to the floor, so the cloture question is premature," Warner spokesman Kevin Hall told The Plum Line's Greg Sargent.
Warner had written constituents in late March saying he believed "EFCA should be debated and voted upon by the Senate," lending supporters of the bill in the organized labor movement the impression that the centrist Democrat would at least support ending debate on the legislation.
Supporters of EFCA (or "card check") have experienced some setbacks in their effort to push the organizing bill through the Senate. In recent weeks, Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) have backed off from supporting the bill in its present form, and other Senate lawmakers have wavered on their support for the legislation.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) blasted the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or "card check") in a nationally-distributed radio spot produced by an anti-EFCA organization.
"It is entirely possible workers could end up in a union they didn't get to vote on, abiding by a contract they also didn't vote on," Gingrich says in a radio actuality produced by the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). "I believe that the Employee 'Forced' Choice Act is the greatest threat to the workplace in American history."
Radio actualities are sound bites sent out to radio stations in hopes the sound bites will be used. WFI is a group organized to help prevent passage of EFCA, and said to be backed by several corporate interests.
The Gingrich actuality has been sent out to radio stations nationwide.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said Monday she will vote against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), marking a major Democratic defection to the effort to pass the highly-prized union bill.
"I cannot support that bill," Lincoln said during a speech before the Little Rock Political Animals Club, according to the Arkansas Business News. "Cannot support that bill in its current form. Cannot support and will not support moving it forward in its current form."
The Associated Press is also reporting that Lincoln announced her opposition to the bill, which is strongly desired by organized labor.
Lincoln's opposition would mark another major blow to the legislation, also known as "card check," after Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced he would vote against cloture and passage of the legislation. Without Lincoln, a centrist Democrat, supporting the measure, proponents of the organized labor legislation would need to flip two Republican votes in order to survive a filibuster.
Lincoln faces reelection in 2010, and although she has not drawn any banner Republican opponents yet, her choice to oppose EFCA -- like Specter's -- could have major political ramifications.
A group of minority business leaders has formed a group opposing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or "card check") a day after civil rights groups organized a campaign for the bill's passage.
The National Black Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Black Hotel Owners Operators and Developers, and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association announced a campaign Friday to persuade members of the minority community to oppose EFCA.
"This is tantamount to a coup or power grab. Entrepreneurs don't take the risks and work hard hours to give it all up," said National Black Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Harry C. Alford. "And denying workers the right to secret ballot elections is undemocratic, plain and simple."
The announcement by the minority business groups sets up an interesting racial dynamic in the fight over the card check bill, which is strongly desired by organized labor, but strenuously opposed by business groups.
The civil rights groups announced the push for the organized labor bill to coincide with the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination.
The anti-EFCA minority business groups will announce their campaign in more detail in an April 6 press conference.
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