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Link:  
<http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/another-vote-for-card-check-bill-...
6-30.html>

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Leading The News  
Another vote for card-check bill
By Kevin Bogardus

Posted: 06/30/09 07:51 PM [ET]

Sixty senators will now caucus with the Dems in the upper chamber. That is a
much larger majority than when the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) first
moved in June 2007 and failed to earn cloture, grabbing 51 votes out of the
60 needed.

³Franken¹s victory certainly helps our chances of passing EFCA, but there is
still plenty of work to be done,² said Thea Lee, policy director for the
AFL-CIO.

³Working families need him in the United States Senate to help restore the
economy, rebuild the middle class and renew the American Dream for all
workers,² said Anna Burger, chairwoman of Change to Win and
secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union.

The bill should pass overwhelmingly in the House. But unlike in the last
Congress, the Senate is working on the bill first to see if a compromise can
be worked out to gain cloture.

Sen. Tom Harkin has been the lead negotiator on a compromise. The Iowa
Democrat says Franken needs to be seated to have enough votes for Senate
passage.

³There are multiple factors at play. Seating Sen. Franken is definitely one
of them, but this bill is a heavy lift. Sen. Harkin is committed to moving
this bill forward in a timely fashion,² said Bergen Kenny, Harkin¹s press
secretary.

Even with Franken, Democrats may not have the votes to push through because
of concerns in their own conference.

³While Al Franken is a well-known supporter of the Employee ŒForced¹ Choice
Act and Sen. Norm Coleman is opposed to the legislation, we do not expect
the seating of either in the U.S. Senate to significantly alter the dynamics
of the vote count in the upper chamber,² says a June 15 memo from the
Workforce Fairness Institute, which is opposed to EFCA. ³The reality is that
union bosses simply do not have the votes...and the impediment lies with
Democrats, who would have a filibuster-proof majority, if Franken emerges as
the victor.

All eyes now turn to the many Senate Democrats who have been skittish in
supporting EFCA or have outright opposed it. Both Sens. Blanche Lincoln
(D-Ark.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) have come out against the bill, although
Specter, alongside Harkin, has been working on a compromise. Specter voted
for cloture on the bill in 2007.

If passed, EFCA, otherwise known as ³card-check,² should increase union
ranks, which have been dwindling for years. The bill would allow workers to
bypass secret-ballot elections if a majority sign petition cards in order to
organize into a union.

Unions are lobbying hard for the legislation, saying it would counteract
intimidation by employers who try to stop union organizing. They believe
unionized workers could negotiate better wages and benefits.

Several prominent business associations argue the bill would lead to more
work stoppages and strikes, and drag down business.
 

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