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Sunday, May 17, 2009

EFCA Mail-in Ballots?

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), aka "Card Check", is stalled but far from dead.  What should be clear at this point is that hard-liners will vote against just about anything that makes it easier to form a union.  There also remain many senators that will vote for EFCA as-is.  The votes just don't seem to add up for EFCA as-is though.  Enter the compromise.

New-dem Arlen Specter is looking to tweak EFCA to get it moving again.  The Wall Street Journal reports that Specter is floating the idea of mail-in ballots.  The idea "would theoretically preserve privacy and reduce opportunities for coercion by union organizers and employers."

Employers concerns extend beyond the card check provisions, however.  They also oppose the imposition of mandatory arbitration after 120 days.  Specter proposes a change that would "restrict the use of arbitrators in contract negotiations to situations in which the two sides fail to reach agreement on their last and best offer."

The EFCA debate rages on.  Will the mail-in ballot be the compromise that gets the necessary votes to pass?  We shall see...

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