Despite talk of a possible compromise that would water down or remove entirely the controversial Card Check provision of proposed The Employee Free Choice Act, the bill still contains other show-stoppers for Rep. John Kline (R-Minn).
“From my perspective the bill is very bad public policy because it takes away the secret ballot and because it imposes binding arbitration and increases penalties on business,” Kline said. “That’s why getting rid of just one provision here is not acceptable. My colleagues and I will continue to resist any so-called compromise.”
Kline is the ranking minority member of the House Education and Labor Committee. The panel’s chairman, Rep. George Miller, (D-Calif.) is Card Check’s prime mover in the House of Representatives. The proposal was approved March 1 2007 in the House by a vote 241 to 185. On June 26, 2007, the Senate voted 51 to 48 on a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to consider the bill, 9 votes short of the 60 needed to invoke cloture and prevent an anticipated Republican filibuster.
Under Card Check, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would be required to certify a union without a secret ballot election, if labor representatives obtained signatures from 51 percent of a company’s workforce. This would effectively remove the secret ballot from the workplace in union organization elections, critics warn.
This view is shared by officials with the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI), the National Right to Work Committee (NRTW), and other pro-business groups who suspect Democratic congressional leaders hope to advance forced unionization through the compromise Card Check bill’s binding arbitration provision.
“I don’t see anything that is being done to fix the elements in this bill that are dangerous to the rights of workers and to the job providers who are already struggling with a faltering economy,” said Katie Packer, WFI’s executive director. “This is just a ploy to get enough votes for cloture but I don’t see this going anywhere. There are senators who simply can’t vote for binding arbitration.”
With opinion polls showing growing opposition to card check, it is not surprising to find that labor allies in the Senate are attempting to reshape the bill, said Greg Mourad, NRTW’s legislative director. But Mourad believes the changes under consideration are “window dressing” that would still give labor 95 percent of what it wants.
Despite the criticisms, negotiations in search of a compromise Card Check bill that can gain 60 votes in the Senate continue, said Kate Cyrul, a spokesman for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the measure’s lead sponsor in the upper chamber.
“Senator Harkin has said all along that The Employee Free Choice Act is a priority,” said Cyrul. “We are still making progress with the legislation on Capitol Hill, but there are multiple factors at play.”
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), who announced earlier this year that he would oppose Card Check, declined to say whether or not he would be persuaded to support a new version of the bill. Specter changed from Republican to Democrat on April 28.
“The negotiations are best served by no public comments at this time,” Specter said.
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a Card Check co-sponsor who is expected to challenge Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic senate primary next year, opposes any compromise that lacks labor support.
Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is demanding an up- or-down Card Check vote. Sestak said he would not be surprised, if Specter changed his position again for reasons of expediency.
“It’s that type of lack of conviction and doing things for convenience that is discouraging to Americans and to Pennsylvanians,” Sestak said. “Specter switched parties because he could not win in a GOP primary and, since then, switched his position on public health care, so it wouldn’t surprise me, if he switched his position again on Card Check.”
