Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is still scheming on behalf of labor bosses to force a vote on Card Check that would short circuit legislative procedures, according to the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW).
Under the Card Check provision of the Employee Free Choice Act 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, according to business groups and conservative critics of the proposal.
Despite talk of a possible compromise that would drop the Card Check provision while keeping other key items such as binding arbitration, Reid reportedly is crafting a new strategy to force the legislation through in its original form, according to anonymous senior Democratic aides quoted by Roll Call.
A Senate leadership aide quoted in the same Roll Call report discussed the possibility of bypassing organized opposition on the part of Republicans and some Democrats.
“This is not the kind of thing where we could have a long, drawn-out rollout,” the aide said. “We’d have to say, ‘Here’s the deal,’ and then get to the floor and get it passed before anyone can mobilize against it.”
“Forced card check coupled with the job-killing binding interest arbitration provision suggests that the EFCA still remains politically toxic, despite efforts to produce what appears to be a one-sided ‘compromise,’ ” said Brian Worth, chairman of the CDW. “Apparently ‘compromise’ means whatever Big Labor can get passed notwithstanding their ultimate plan for denying workers secret ballots.”
Reid’s plan would deny fellow lawmakers the opportunity to review the legislation, particuarly any new items that are inserted as part of a compromise, Worth added.
“This means you skip the committee process, you have no hearings, there’s no markup and no opportunity for anyone to properly analyze the bill or make changes to it,” Worth said. “This takes out a lot of the deliberation and it will deny people the opportunity to properly vet the bill, especially when you are talking about new proposals like ambush elections and workplace access provisions. That’s not something congress has ever had mark ups or hearings on, so you will be starting from scratch on these points.”
Kate Cyrul, a spokesman for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the measure’s lead sponsor in the upper chamber, told The Examiner that negotiations continue in search of a compromise that can gain 60 votes in Senate. And Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern is not relenting on his demand that there be an up-or-down congressional vote on Card Check.
