Blog About: Employee Free Choice Act Compromise Gains Momentum.

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The Senate plans to drop the “card check” provision from the Employee Free Choice Act (“EFCA”), a bill that seeks to alter the landscape of American labor law by making it easier for unions to organize workers, according to late reports from Washington, D.C. Despite a seemingly “filibuster proof” Democratic Senate majority – 60 of the 100 Senate seats – a handful of Democratic senators announced recently that they would not support EFCA as initially proposed because the “card check” provision effectively eliminated workers’ rights to vote by secret ballot on unionization. At least one of the dissenting Democrats, Senator Arlen Specter, while still a Republican, also indicated dissatisfaction with the mandatory arbitra...

On February 4, 2010, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 13-10 to approve the nomination of Craig Becker to be a member of the National Labor Relations Board. It was a party line vote, with all 10 Republicans on the committee voting against Becker's nomination. Becker must next be confirmed by the entire Senate. With Senator Scott Brown already sworn in as the 41st Republican, there is a real possibility that Becker's confirmation could be blocked by a filibuster. If that were to happen, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Obama Administration may use a recess appointment to get Becker on the NLRB, which would not require Senate approval.

With membership at its lowest point in over 60 years, unions are steadfastly proving they still know how to play politics. Organized labor has recently taken steps to reinforce its ranks through legislation, introducing significant reform efforts such as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The Act, in effect, would eliminate secret ballot elections from the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) related to union organizing, substitute card check verification instead, and make employer neutrality mandatory in the electoral process.

It's likely that President Obama's recent nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be approved by the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, unless some unknown skeleton appears from her closet.

On December 24, 2009, the United States Senate passed its version of Health Care Reform, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590). Presently, the House and Senate Democratic leaderships are negotiating a compromise version of Health Care Reform with an articulated goal of achieving fi nal passage by Congress by the end of January or early February (in time for President Obama’s yet-to-be-scheduled State of the Union address).

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