Watch Your Back! EFCA Could Come in a Variety of Clothing.

In an article in the Washington Post, Obama hinted at other strategies open to Big Labor for getting the Employee Free Choice Act foisted upon the American workforce. According to the article:

"The president-elect also gave his support for legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize, but he said there may be other ways to achieve the same goal without angering businesses. And while many Democrats on Capitol Hill are eager to see a quick vote on that bill, he indicated no desire to rush into the contentious issue.

'If we're losing half a million jobs a month, then there are no jobs to unionize, so my focus first is on those key economic priority items I just mentioned,' he said. 'Let's see what the legislative docket looks like.'"

As we mentioned earlier, the Senate as already included language in one of their first bills (S.2) that addresses "making it easier for employees to unionize" (my paraphrase).

As our friends at HRPolicy amplified,

"Strong opposition to card checks has been made very clear, and that is the public's perception of where the concerns lie. It is doubtful that there is an equal awareness of the concerns about the compulsory arbitration provisions, as well as the potential for a 'quickie election' that would deprive employees of the ability to hear all sides of the unionization question. In the months ahead, as the issue continues to evolve, the business community will need to amplify its concern that the bill is not just a 'card check bill.'"

Amen! There are many options open to Congress to placate their Big Labor funders - including sacrificing the card check provision in order keep the mandatory arbitration, or moving for shortened elections, or, as this EFCA proponent suggested, even modifying the card check provision to include the placement of a check box on the authorization cards giving the employees the right to select either a secret ballot election or direct representation authorization (yet still to be completed in public, thus the intimidation factor remains). As the Senate has already demonstrated, they are willing to include language in other bills designed to accomplish the same thing as the EFCA.

We will have to keep a sharp eye out!