The conventional wisdom lately is that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA or "Card Check" to others) will not pass in its current form. (You can find my prior coverage of the EFCA here.)
Over the last few days, however, various "compromises" have been floated. (H/T Shopfloor.) Of course, the very word "compromise" suggests som.jpg)
e reasonable attempt to strike a middle ground, which is a debate in and of itself.
A Washington Post editorial over the weekend suggested that it is employer "intransigence" that is making such a compromise difficult.
WE HAVE SAID before that the Employee Free Choice Act is a flawed solution to a real problem: unfair barriers in the way of union organizing. We have been critical of the labor movement for its reluctance to consider alternatives that could level the playing field between labor and management. So we have, we hope, some standing to criticize a leading management group for its absolutist stance against not only the Employee Free Choice Act as written but also against compromise proposals. Instead of engaging in a good-faith effort to fix the problem, the group, the Coalition for a Democratic Workforce, chooses to deny that there is a problem.
Others, however, have a different view. Former NLRB Member Peter Kirasnow said the idea was "nonsense", going on to say that the idea that unions are in trouble because of the law was not supported by the evidence.
[T]he idea that the EFCA amendments presently being floated constitute a "compromise" is a peculiar usage of the term. As the editorial itself notes, EFCA opponents remain monolithically opposed to any form of the bill. The "compromise" is merely a recognition among Democrats that they can’t muster the needed support for EFCA from within even their own ranks.
Recent government data shows that unions are far from the underdogs in all elections (winning 66.8 percent of all elections in 2008 — the highest rate in over 50 years). In fact, in 2008, the percentage of employees in unions went up.
The White House has shown no desire to push this bill — in any form — right now with barely a mention of it on its website. Whether some sort of bill is ultimately crafted that can garner enough votes for passage remains the question that everyone is still waiting on for an answer.
Employers should continue to track developments in this area but I wouldn’t be expecting a bill anytime in the immediate future.
