thetruthaboutefca.com | The Truth About The Employee Free Choice Act & Card Check

Be sure not to miss Associated Builders and Contractors national chairman Jerry Gorski’s article from this weekend on the Employee Free Choice Act and Sen. Arlen Specter.

Gorski’s conclusion:

EFCA could cost up to 600,000 American jobs in the first year alone with millions more job losses to come, according to a study by Anne Layne-Farrar, an economist from the nonpartisan firm LECG consulting.

In light of this study, many Pennsylvania businesses would likely close their doors and workers would be unemployed if EFCA became law.

That is unacceptable.

With many businesses in the state already struggling in this economy, I don’t understand how Specter can justify his surprising reversal on this reckless legislation.

He needs to answer to Pennsylvania workers and businesses that stand to lose if this bill becomes law.

Many have been confused by Sen. Arlen Specter’s recent declaration that the Employee Free Choice Act had seen a compromise hammered out and that said compromise would be passed by the end of the year. Included in those “many” are his fellow Democratic Senators, according to Laura Vecsey:

With his strangely wild prediction about the controversial labor reform bill called the Employee Free Choice Act, the word is that Specter was so off-message that he even floored his own Senate and campaign staff.

Not only did Specter tell a large audience at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh that Senate negotiators had pounded out a labor reform bill that will please unions, Specter predicted that the Employee Free Choice Act would pass by the end of the year.

The aftermath has seen a rash of Democratic Senate colleagues cry foul on Specter’s assertion — the same Senate colleagues who will decide whether or not to acknowledge Specter’s seniority should he win re-election.

Well, it — the Employee Free Choice Act — can’t get better until it’s scrapped entirely and would-be labor reformers start again with a better set of goals. The Wall Street Journal this morning focuses on Sen. Arlen Specter’s announced effort to reformulate EFCA. The plan seems to include ambush elections and union access to employer facilities.

The Journal:

The new old “card check,” according to Mr. Specter, also gives unions unprecedented access to the workplace and meetings between employers and employees before a vote to unionize. Last we checked the Constitution, even in the age of Obama private companies haven’t signed away their property rights.

An equally problematic binding arbitration provision stays in. This idea would let a federal arbitrator impose a contract if the employer and a newly organized union aren’t able to agree within three months. In other words, a government-sponsored agent would decide what salaries and benefits management will have to pay its employees. Throw in the expanded access to company property, and this so-called compromise bill may be worse than the original.

It would be a feat, of sorts, to out-do the terrible aspects of the original bill. And, we would like to reiterate that (to our knowledge) employers do still have some rights worth preserving.

PS — Don’t forget that the binding arbitration provision could force newly unionized firms into failing union pension funds, creating immediate and massive new liabilities.

The Employee Free Choice Act got another blip of news today as Sen. Arlen Specter said he and a small group of other Democrats have “pounded out” bill that “will meet labor’s” objectives for an overhaul of labor laws.

The Hill newspaper was good enough to note our efforts to educate the public:

Several groups opposing the bill ran ads in Pittsburgh this week during the AFL-CIO convention. The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace paid for newspaper ads, calling on Specter to oppose the bill, while the Associated Builders and Contractors paid for a billboard saying the legislation will cost jobs.

ABC is a proud member of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.

The National Right To Work Committee has a new TV spot up in Pennsylvania, where the AFL-CIO is convening and where Sen. Arlen Specter is expected to play a pivotal role.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review sums up the new ad:

In the new 60-second advertisement, an unseen narrator says, “It seems Senator Specter has a hard time deciding which side he wants to stand with,” and the ad warns that “millions of workers and small businesses would be forced under big labor control in the blink of an eye” if the bill passes. The spot closes by asking viewers to call Specter’s office and urge him to vote against any version of the bill.

Certainly any encouragement Pennsylvanians have for Sen. Specter to do the right thing is encouraged. Click here to see the Free Enterprise Alliance’s ongoing effort in Pennsylvania outside the AFL-CIO convention.

While we were over checking in on the proceedings of a card-check-focused panel at the Americans For Prosperity RightOnline event, Sen. Arlen Specter was across town in Pittsburgh leaving many at the very-liberal Netroots Nation with the impression that he will be voting for cloture on the Employee Free Choice Act*.

Michael O’Brien at The Hill was all over the story and included this reaction from the Workplace Fairness Institute:

“Specter needs to answer whether he will vote no on cloture if the bill includes the elimination of the secret ballot or mandatory, binding arbitration,” said Katie Packer, executive director for the group.

“And working families in Pennsylvania deserve to know whether Specter will keep the promise he made to them on the floor of the United States Senate when he stated his opposition to both card check and forced arbitration.”

Elsewhere, Shopfloor’s Carter Wood notes:

EFCA is a moving target these days, and it’s unclear what theoretical legislation Senator Specter was referring to. He has expressed support for a “modified version,” perhaps a “compromise” he works out with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA).

But the Employee Free Choice Act is fundamentally flawed, designed to force to employees into unions against their individual self-interest and to damage any businesses that resist unionization. There is no compromise that can flow from any version of the Employee Free Choice Act. A vote for cloture by Senator Specter would do a great disservice to his constituents and the nation’s economic vitality.

He also points to this quote from Greg Sargent: “It’s understandable that EFCA backers are psyched by Specter’s declaration today. But it seems worth keeping in mind that Specter has been known to, shall we say, tailor his message to his audience.” Our emphasis.

The positive spin: at least this summer hasn’t been boring. The takeaway: as we’ve said before, EFCA is not dead and we can’t stop fighting until it is.

* It’s worth remembering: Sen. Specter’s words didn’t curry much favor — he lost (in dramatic fashion) the Netroots Nation straw poll to Democratic challenger Joe Sestak.