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An EFCA Revival?

There are a couple interesting stories from the past week where supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act make it known that the legislation will not go down without a fight.

In commemorating the 75th anniversary of the passage of the National Labor Relations Act, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis used the moment to essentially reinforce the administration’s belief that unions strengthen the economy, while once again committing their support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Here is what she said about EFCA:

In order to rebuild the middle class today, we need to level the playing field for all working people and update our labor laws to fit the 21st century workplace. That's why the President and I support the Employee Free Choice Act - which would update the NLRA so workers can form unions if they choose to without fear or pressure.

I suppose she figures her audience at the Huffington Post knows what EFCA is but she declines to say what it does or how it does it. She made the argument about “leveling the playing field” many times in the column, but never mentioned anything about secret ballots, card check, etc. which has been the strategy of supporters for some time.

And in a Wall Street Journal article from earlier this morning they talked about the possibility that Democrats will try to pass major, often controversial legislation, during the lame duck session of Congress. One of those bills that continues to get brought up is EFCA. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) is in favor of that, and in the House one Democrat spoke frankly about the possibility. When it comes to EFCA, “the lame duck would be the last chance, quite honestly, for the foreseeable future,” noted Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).

Looking At The New Union Election Statistics

About a week ago, the Bureau of Labor Statics released the latest numbers on union elections, along with a 13 year trend. Here are the numbers for 2009: there were 1,304 elections for union representation held with the union winning 864 of them. That represents a 66.3 percent win total, the highest winning percentage since World War II probably- and slightly higher than last years 64.7 percent.

It appears that that is the new labor strategy. Don’t bother holding the election unless it looks pretty evident the union will win. Looking back over the past 13 years, the union winning percentage has increased steadily from 50.8 percent in 1997 to where it is today. While that may make for good PR, it has not done much to increase union numbers.

In 1997, there were a total of 3,261 elections held- the union won about half- with a little more than 90,000 employees joining the union (out of about 224,000 who cast ballots). In the past year, just 44,033 new employees were involved in petitions won by the union- down about 50 percent from 13 years ago. At the same time, only 69,832 employees were even eligible to vote- down a remarkable 70 percent from 1997.

Harkin Says That EFCA Could Come To Life During Lame-Duck Session of Congress

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), probably the biggest proponent of the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate, remains optimistic that the labor organizing bill can still pass during this session of Congress.

On Thursday, Harkin appeared on the Bill Press radio show and hinted at what strategies they may follow to pass the bill before a new, most likely less union-friendly Congress is sworn in in January. Harkin said they may try to pass “key parts” of the bill individually if they can’t move it in its entirety. He also stated that they may try to pass the bill during the lame-duck session. That refers to the period of Congress after the November elections, but before the new session begins in January. To pass anything that controversial would be quite a task as it rarely happens.

But when you think about it, there are some fence-sitters or those who outright oppose it right now that look unlikely to win re-election in November (or have already lost their primary) and obviously would not have to answer to any constituents. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who once opposed the bill but now favors a compromise version, has already lost his primary and could potentially move to support every part of the bill. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) barley survived a challenge in her primary (her challenger was mainly funded by unions), but has little chance of winning re-election in November. She initially supported EFCA, but backed off over the past year as she geared up for re-election. Would they be inclined to support this in November or December?

Harkin’s final message was simply: “To those who think it's dead, I say think again.”

E-voting In Replace of EFCA?

The Hill recently had a story on an issue that the National Labor Relations Board is looking into which has business groups calling it the new Employee Free Choice Act. The issue at hand is electronic union balloting, and the NLRB recently released a “request for information” to see how federal contractors would administer such a system.

Business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and Workforce Fairness Institute, which took the lead in drumming up opposition to EFCA, have now zeroed in on this move. Glenn Spencer, executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Workforce Freedom Initiative, said the NLRB is looking for ways to implement EFCA single handily, adding, “They will look for ways around the private ballot, taking the worker out of the privacy of the ballot booth. This is just the first step.”

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sent a letter to the board, which said (in part): “Among other adverse impacts, using electronic means to permit off-site, or remote, voting during union organizing elections will subject employees to a level of intimidation and coercion that does not occur during an on-site, private ballot election that is directly supervised by the NLRB. Electronic voting bears a striking resemblance to the card-check scheme.”

Trumka: We won’t quit until EFCA becomes the law of the land

Despite multiple reports of EFCA’s death by both Republicans and Democrats, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka continues to put on a positive face. At the recent UAW convention in Detroit, Trumka stated that his group and others “won’t quit until the EFCA becomes the law of the land.” He also pressed the UAW members to intensify lobbying efforts with their member of Congress in support of Employee Free Choice Act, labor’s top legislative priority which once looked like a shoe-in for passage before stalling in Congress.

Trumka also took the opportunity to praise “the leadership of President Obama,” and called the administration one in which “understand that we cannot have a middle class in this country without a strong domestic automobile industry and without strong union contracts.” This is about a week after labor and White House officials- usually strong allies- traded shots following the Arkansas Democratic primary. The White House was backing incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln, while most unions were backing her primary challenger Bill Halter. Upset with Lincoln’s opposition to EFCA, unions spent in the neighborhood of $10 million in a losing effort. Following the election, a White House official declared the unions had just “flushed $10 million down the toilet,’ while a union official stated they are not “an arm of the Democratic Party.” Since that time, the two sides have somewhat made-up and there was no evidence of hard feelings toward the administration in Trumka’s speech.

Also, at the convention, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger gave his last address to the group he led for eight years. The New York Times has an interesting write-up on some dissenters within the UAW ranks who feel that union has gone too far in concessions. One of those dissenters is Gary Walkowicz, a Dearborn, Michigan plant worker, who led a drive against last summer’s concessions and is running for president. It will be interesting to see who ends up with Gettelfinger’s old job.

Unions To Spend Well Over $100M For Midterms

Two major unions, SEIU and AFSCME, plan to spend around $100 million between themselves on the upcoming November elections where every seat in the House and a third of the Senate is at stake. In March, the AFL-CIO said they are looking to exceed the $53 million they spent on the 2008 election.

But this time around the strategy is a bit different. While unions were critical in building and expanding the Democratic majorities in 2006 and 2008, there plan this year is to save that majority. Incumbent protection is the name of the game as offense has switched to defense.

Gerry McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (or AFSCME) said the union plans on spending “in excess” of $50 million as they have eight Senate seats and 34 House seats in their top tier program. “We have got to protect the incumbency in the House. We have got to protect the incumbency in the Senate… We are not out there looking for new seats. We have our hands full the way it is,” McEntee said.

Another major player, SEIU, is looking to spend about $44 million which they began spending last year thanking legislators for supporting healthcare reform. They currently have a list of 15 top-priority House districts that they are hoping to keep in the Democratic column. “In the past, we have not paid as much attention to incumbent protection as we have this year,” said Jon Youngdahl, national political director for the union.

The AFL-CIO, who are yet to give specifics on spending plans, said they plan to be active in Senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns in 18 states along with 60 to 70 House races throughout the country.

While labor’s top priority- the Employee Free Choice Act- has yet to come to fruition (and most likely won’t before November), it appears the biggest issue when it comes to supporting and defending an incumbent is the members vote on healthcare. In fact, many unions are opposing or not supporting Democrats who had co-sponsored or supported EFCA in the past if they opposed the healthcare legislation.

Harkin: Votes Aren’t There On EFCA

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) has been a key player and proponent of the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate. He currently chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee where he hoped to steer the legislation to passage. That obviously has not to come to fruition, and he recently admitted the votes were not there to pass the bill. While many have known this to be true for some time, few Democratic or labor leaders have admitted such. The key question is: what do supporters do to work around the lack of vote for passage of EFCA?

Trumka: We Will Attach EFCA To Something

The Employee Free Choice Act has taken on many different lives over the past year. We saw the original bill become a compromise of sorts after several Democrats expressed concern with card check. Still, there is no “official” compromise bill but Democrats insist they are regularly having negotiations and discussions concerning the bill.

And just how they are going to pass EFCA has left a number of questions. When the thought of getting 60 votes in the Senate appeared out of reach, attention soon turned to the National Labor Relations Board. With a 3-1 pro-labor majority, some labor leaders are pushing to have the board institute provisions of EFCA. Right now, that appears to labor’s best shot at getting approval of their top-priority. After the 2010 elections, Congress will most likely be less union friendly, but the NLRB will remain.

But here is another twist for instituting EFCA. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumpka, knowing it can’t pass on its own, is calling on Congress to attach EFCA to some other (most likely more popular) piece of legislation. “Anything we can get it attached to. There are multitudes of things we can get it attached to, and we will. We will get it done and it will be a good thing for the country.”

Trumka, who has publicly remained confident that the bill will pass, said there will be a vote on the bill this year- and it will pass.

Mary Kay Henry will be next president of SEIU- not Anna Burger

According to Ben smith at Politico, thanks to a handful of undecided SEIU locals swinging to Mary Kay Henry, the California nurses leader will be the power union's next president. Outgoing president Andy Stern was backing Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, and she was seen as his heir apparent. Burger was very much involved with the Washington political scene (like Stern), while Henry has focused on a need to focus on organizing (over politics). It will be interesting to see what direction SEIU now follows and if the close relationship with Obama and Congressional Democrats changes.