The law, to level the field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining, is one of labor’s two top legislative priorities -- along with health care reform -- for labor-backed Democratic President Barack Obama and the Democratic-run 111th Congress.
But while incoming AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka, Communications Workers President Larry Cohen, AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel and others are all predicting it would pass by the end of this year, there are obstacles in the way.
Obama is not one of them. He brought the house down at the convention on Sept. 15 when more than 3,000.people stood and cheered as he declared its passage is one key to restoring the U.S. middle class. It was one of many ovations Obama got.
“That’s why I stand behind the Employee Free Choice Act -- because if a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union,” he said. But that’s all he said.
Asked after Obama’s speech what, in private talks, the president promised he would do to get the law through a balky Senate, Trumka said Obama “uses the ‘everything’ word.” Trumka added that “if it (the bill) is stuck, it’ll be on the details.”
The Employee Free Choice Act, as originally written, would give workers -- not bosses -- the choice of how to recognize unions in the workplace, after a verified majority of workers signs union election authorization cards. They could choose immediate recognition through “majority signup” or an NLRB-run election.
The law would also impose triple damages for each instance of labor law-breaking -- such as illegally firing a worker for advocating unionization -- and would order binding arbitration between bosses and unions if the two sides can’t agree on a first contract within 120 days of starting negotiations.
The Senate is the obstacle to passing the law, with the Democrats negotiating with themselves on provisions needed to get the 60 votes to overcome the planned GOP filibuster. Cohen said GOP leaders told him that “It’s a Democratic caucus issue. We won’t even discuss it.”
“It’s sad Senate Republicans won’t even discuss workers’ rights,” Cohen added.
The problem is the Democrats don’t have those 60 votes, at least right now. A “gang of six” is discussing proposals to change the law, said one of them, Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. A second problem is that another Democratic seat, that of the late labor champion Edward M. Kennedy, is vacant and right now can only be filled by a special election -- scheduled for January.
That vacancy, in turn, led Massachusetts State AFL-CIO President Bob Haynes, president of Ironworkers Local 7, to ask delegates to have their unions phone and e-mail Massachusetts state lawmakers to amend the law and let Gov. Duval Patrick, D-Mass., appoint an interim Democratic senator until the January balloting.
“We need 81 votes out of the 160 total” in both houses of the legislature to amend the law, he told PAI. “There’s 15 or so Democrats we need to be calling.”
While Haynes tries to get his Bay State’s overwhelmingly Democratic legislature to provide that needed 60th U.S. Senate Democrat, Specter, Senate EFCA sponsor Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Tom Carper, D-Del., Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, are, in discussions with union leaders, trying to write a bill that will get 60 votes.
One option being discussed is that unions file cards representing a majority of workers, a quick NLRB election is scheduled, and if the employer breaks the law between those two events, the majority signup automatically kicks in and the union is recognized.
Specter told the convention he supports labor law reform, including eliminating employer abuses. He sang another tune to the press afterwards: “If you want to eliminate the secret ballot, you won’t come close to 60 votes.” He added “a specific time has not been designated” between the card-filing and vote. NLRB-run election campaigns feature frequent and intimidating employer labor law-breaking and abuses.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
Share
The law, to level the field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining, is one of labor’s two top legislative priorities — along with health care reform — for labor-backed Democratic President Barack Obama and the Democratic-run 111th Congress.
But while incoming AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka, Communications Workers President Larry Cohen, AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel and others are all predicting it would pass by the end of this year, there are obstacles in the way.
Obama is not one of them. He brought the house down at the convention on Sept. 15 when more than 3,000.people stood and cheered as he declared its passage is one key to restoring the U.S. middle class. It was one of many ovations Obama got.
“That’s why I stand behind the Employee Free Choice Act — because if a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union,” he said. But that’s all he said.
Asked after Obama’s speech what, in private talks, the president promised he would do to get the law through a balky Senate, Trumka said Obama “uses the ‘everything’ word.” Trumka added that “if it (the bill) is stuck, it’ll be on the details.”
The Employee Free Choice Act, as originally written, would give workers — not bosses — the choice of how to recognize unions in the workplace, after a verified majority of workers signs union election authorization cards. They could choose immediate recognition through “majority signup” or an NLRB-run election.
The law would also impose triple damages for each instance of labor law-breaking — such as illegally firing a worker for advocating unionization — and would order binding arbitration between bosses and unions if the two sides can’t agree on a first contract within 120 days of starting negotiations.
The Senate is the obstacle to passing the law, with the Democrats negotiating with themselves on provisions needed to get the 60 votes to overcome the planned GOP filibuster. Cohen said GOP leaders told him that “It’s a Democratic caucus issue. We won’t even discuss it.”
“It’s sad Senate Republicans won’t even discuss workers’ rights,” Cohen added.
The problem is the Democrats don’t have those 60 votes, at least right now. A “gang of six” is discussing proposals to change the law, said one of them, Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. A second problem is that another Democratic seat, that of the late labor champion Edward M. Kennedy, is vacant and right now can only be filled by a special election — scheduled for January.
That vacancy, in turn, led Massachusetts State AFL-CIO President Bob Haynes, president of Ironworkers Local 7, to ask delegates to have their unions phone and e-mail Massachusetts state lawmakers to amend the law and let Gov. Duval Patrick, D-Mass., appoint an interim Democratic senator until the January balloting.
“We need 81 votes out of the 160 total” in both houses of the legislature to amend the law, he told PAI. “There’s 15 or so Democrats we need to be calling.”
While Haynes tries to get his Bay State’s overwhelmingly Democratic legislature to provide that needed 60th U.S. Senate Democrat, Specter, Senate EFCA sponsor Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Tom Carper, D-Del., Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, are, in discussions with union leaders, trying to write a bill that will get 60 votes.
One option being discussed is that unions file cards representing a majority of workers, a quick NLRB election is scheduled, and if the employer breaks the law between those two events, the majority signup automatically kicks in and the union is recognized.
Specter told the convention he supports labor law reform, including eliminating employer abuses. He sang another tune to the press afterwards: “If you want to eliminate the secret ballot, you won’t come close to 60 votes.” He added “a specific time has not been designated” between the card-filing and vote. NLRB-run election campaigns feature frequent and intimidating employer labor law-breaking and abuses.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.