The Hill has an update on the progress of the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). If you stand against this act, call your representatives in the House of Representatives ASAP and voice your concern.

Dems to introduce controversial card check bill ‘soon’
By Kevin Bogardus

In what will be the first step of a fierce battle waged on Capitol Hill, House Democrats are poised to introduce a controversial bill that is organized labor’s top legislative priority.

Asked on Wednesday when he plans to introduce his Employee Free Choice Act, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) said, “Soon.” Miller added the so-called card check bill would be unveiled in a matter of days or weeks.

Miller said he could not say how many co-sponsors he has on the bill, but claimed, “It is going very well.”

The powerful chairman is trying to get as many lawmakers as possible to sign on as original co-sponsors. On Jan. 22, Miller urged his colleagues to co-sponsor the bill in a “Dear Colleague” letter. The deadline for being listed as an initial co-sponsor was Tuesday night.

The legislation is expected to sail through the House in 2009, but proponents want to trigger as much political momentum as possible before an anticipated cliffhanger vote in the Senate. President Obama pledged to sign the bill into law during his campaign for the White House though he has not mentioned the measure since the election.

A wide array of industry groups is lobbying to defeat the bill.

Thursday will be the exact day two years ago that the bill was introduced in the last Congress. On Feb. 5, 2007, Miller introduced EFCA with 233 original co-sponsors, including GOP backers. Not one lawmaker co-sponsored the House bill after Feb. 5, 2007.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) would later follow in the upper chamber, introducing the bill with 46 co-sponsors on March 29, 2007. The House passed its bill 241-185 on March 1, 2007, with 13 Republicans voting for it and two Democrats (Reps. Dan Boren (Okla.) and Gene Taylor (Miss.)) rejecting it.

EFCA would help workers organize much more easily into unions. If the legislation became law, employees could bypass secret ballot elections if a majority of them sign authorization cards indicating they want to organize into a union.

The Senate is the main battleground for EFCA, with 60 votes needed to achieve cloture. Last Congress, EFCA failed to pass after it received 51 votes for cloture, with Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) the only Republican to join all voting Democrats backing the motion.

Two years ago, every Pennsylvania Republican in the House rejected EFCA except Rep. Tim Murphy.

If Al Franken is ultimately seated in the Senate, Democrats would have 59 members of the upper chamber and would need to find one GOP vote for cloture.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on Wednesday expressed confidence that the bill will pass.

“We’re going to have to fight, turn up the heat, turn up the pressure,” said Harkin. “I am determined we will not lose this fight, by two votes or one vote.”

Miller and Harkin spoke on Capitol Hill at a labor rally organized by American Rights at Work, the worker advocacy group, labor coalition Change to Win and the AFL-CIO. Union members delivered more than one million signatures to lawmakers’ offices in support of EFCA.

Business associations and corporations have mounted a substantial lobbying campaign against the bill, using print and radio ads to deride it.

The business community argues EFCA would allow labor leaders to harass workers into joining unions. It could also lead to more strikes and work stoppages, which could hurt industry, they claim.

Labor officials have been battling back, arguing the legislation is necessary because employees who want to organize into unions are intimidated and sometimes fired by their employers. In addition, if unionization rates increased, labor leaders believe it will help the nation’s economic recovery by allowing workers to negotiate for better wages and benefits with management.

Some business lobbyists believe their opposition has pushed back the introduction of the bill, claiming they will seize political momentum if Miller’s bill has fewer original co-sponsors than 2007. But with increased Democratic majorities in the lower chamber, it’s likely the bill will get more support in the House this year.

“Passage is passage, whether it is by one vote or a 100,” said Randel Johnson, vice president for labor policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “But any defections on the Democratic side will help us as we go into the Senate.”

By Wednesday, the Chamber had already spent $10 million in its campaign against EFCA and anticipates to spend substantially more than that in the weeks and months ahead.

Other business associations are also lobbying heavily against the bill. For example, the National Association of Manufacturers has flown in about 50 senior corporate executives to lobby against the legislation.

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