Dampened Democratic support for the union agenda could mean that Big Labor press even harder for a vote on card check legislation in the near future, says a leading union watchdog.
With resounding victories in the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia and 2010 Congressional elections looking bleaker for Democrats by the minute, unions are no doubt reassessing their political strategy. The Examiner contacted Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and National Right to Work Committee, to see how he thought the changing political climate will affect how unions are approaching perhaps their signature issue: Card check legislation.
According to Mix, the unions aren’t running scared yet. In fact, it could mean a vote on card check legislation is coming down the pike soon. “I don’t think the aggressiveness of Andy Stern, or Richard Trumpka or Bruce Raynor or the rest of union officialdom has disspiated one bit. I think what’s dissipated is the energy of say, [Senators] Mark Warner, Jim Webb, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor, Ben Nelson and Harry Reid,” he said. “Bob McDonald basically ran a campaign predicated on jobs which included a strong, strong opposition to the card check bill — and won overwhelmingly.”
But Democrats could conceivably put the legislation up for a vote despite the unfavorable political climate, even though Mix doesn’t believe that unions have the votes to pass the legislation.
“Sometime between now and the end of the session you may see Harry Reid stand up and move to proceed to bill. I think what would happen is that they would file a cloture motion at the same time. In 48 hours it would mature, and then in the fanfare of a Friday afternoon you might get a cloture vote on the orginal [card check] bill. And they would lose that vote,” Mix said. Mix further notes that even the political will to summon a card check vote that won’t pass is rapidly dissipating, reiterating that he thinks the vote will have to come soon. “I think that vote comes at the very end of this session or the very beginning of this session. Once you get to February or March, I think the policy window closes and the political window opens up wide and the Democrats wouldn’t want to have vote.”
Even though the legislation would likely fail getting a vote would still be a victory for unions. “If I were running the bill and I had invested all of my resources both rhetorically and financially in this card check bill, at some point I would want a vote,” Mix said.
Aside from having something to show for their efforts, figuring out which arms to twist is the next logical step in getting the legislation passed. And there’s no better way to do that than getting a vote. “[A vote] would do several things for organized labor. It’s an opportunity to say, ‘Okay, here’s who we need to work on’ and allow unions to go out and beat on these [senators] and begin to figure out what deals you need to cut using the Obama administration — you say, ‘What do you want Mary Landrieu? What do you want Blanche Lincoln?’,” Mix said. “If nothing else you want to be able to take names and begin the process of lobbying and disciplining those who are not with you.”
