Democratic Senator: Employee Free Choice Act Can’t Pass
The bad news keeps on coming for proponents of the Employee Free Choice Act.
Yesterday Senator Blanche Lincoln came out against the bill as is. Now another Senate Democrat, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, has told a gathering of constituents in his state that it can’t pass in its current form, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan:
“We’re going to have to see whether or not there’s a consensus that can be reached that makes it something that can be passed because right now there isn’t something that can be passed,” Bennet told the group at New Belgium.
He said he’s concerned by the hard feelings that are developing on the issue, among organized labor on one side and small-business owners on the other. He said those groups can be allies on many issues, particularly health-care reform, and can’t let the EFCA debate splinter relationships.
“Temperatures are running high on both sides of this. We need to make sure that no matter how this turns out … that we’ve got all hands on deck working on health-care reform because this is the year to get that done,” he said.
Now, it’s true that Bennet is talking about the bill as is, which leaves room for compromise. But Bennet is framing EFCA as a potential impediment to getting health care reform done. The danger for labor is that this type of claim could give cover to Dems who want to oppose the measure for other reasons, just as the state of the economy has done.
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Bennet is just covering his own a$$. This will have absolutely no effect on Health Care Reform. What the Dems who are for EFCA should do is shelve the legislation for now so that the story dies for awhile then come back maybe during the summer to push it again. In the meantime labor should do a couple things.
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1. Find an economist or several that will attest to the fact that unions help the economy by negotiating so their workers will get better wages.
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2. Collect a TON of feel good stories about how unions helped workers achieve a better existence. And what would be GREAT is to get information on every Congressperson who ever was a union worker. I would bet the percentage is pretty high. And make special note of those who have ever referred to themselves as former union workers to score political points that are now opposed to EFCA.
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3. Collect a TON of stories about employer intimidation.
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4. Get research on the average union worker vs average non union worker and profitablity of firms with union representation vs those without.
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5. And maybe most important get a whole new media strategy that not only responds to but anticipates the attacks they will invite and sometimes launch preemptive strikes on big business. AIG and the banks are just too easy a target right now not to point the finger at them and gin up outrage over the difference in how they are treated vs union workers AND how having union leadership could have helped reduce those bonuses and exorbitant salaries.
6. Wait ’till Franken is seated to push non-Budget items that will get watered down because there is one less liberal leading Dem in the Senate.
sgwhiteinfla,
I appreciate your sentiment, but labor’s stories don’t make the papers.
Think about how many times you’ve seen a labor leader invited to discuss political issues on tv. It’s stunning to me that these folks, who often represent millions of dues-paying members are completely locked-out of debate, while the PUMAS and other joke astroturf organizations get time nightly on our airwaves. Women’s rights groups that don’t like women, anyone? Or, the one that is committed to installing biblical law? They deserve more time, right?
I can’t conclude anything other than, it is intentional. The owners of media do not like labor, and won’t air their stories. Period. Labor has to buy what is given to business for free. It slants the playing field a litte, but it needs to be considered.
Labor has these stories compiled, they just can’t get them aired like business can. This is a business run society, that we live in. The evidence is all around us. Steal a purse = 20 years, steal $50 billion and complain about house arrest.
I’m sorry, but a new set of tactics to muscle through “card check” at this point won’t work. The legislation in its current form is DOA. That’s why Pelosi this wanted the Senate to consider it first. She knows the bills weaknesses, and she didn’t want to waste the House’s time yet again on a vote.
The bill’s provisions have been sufficiently framed in the debate to leave the impression that it will not help the economy and may be, at its heart, un-American in trying to finesse the right for an employee to cast a secret vote. Our union friends have over-reached, particularly in terms of timing. So, if they’re still in a hurry, do they want to do a deal now that will gut at least the most controversial provisions or — barring compromise — do they want to live to fight another day, say in six months? Just asking
sgwhiteinfla, you won’t find any feel-good stories because they don’t exist. Unions do nothing but destroy a company’s competitiveness and, in the long run, cost their own members their jobs. See the UAW.
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