Employee Free Choice Act - Gould Says Mandatory Arbitration Unconstitutional

In yesterday's Congress Daily former NLRB Chairman (and current labor scholar from Stanford Law School) William Gould had this to say about the mandatory arbitration provisions of the EFCA:

Gould said the arbitration provision could hit legal roadblocks. "The law as presently written would probably be unconstitutional because there are no criteria under the law for the arbitrator to follow," Gould said.

Gould is certainly not the only legal scholar to note this problem (he later cites the H.K. Porter Supreme Court decision) but he is the highest profile pro-labor person I've seen discuss it. The arbitration provision is the truly poison pill of the proposed legislation. And while I hope that in the end Gould is correct and that such a provision would be ruled unconstitutional, my preference is that we don't have to find out.