Following People who are Following People who are Lost

There have been rumors flying for the last week or so about the EFCA being introduced today (March 9th). It's not going to happen today. Some day, but not today. How do I know? I don't but here's my thinking...

For one, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to AFL-CIO blogs that anyone can write.

"On Monday, March 9th Congressman George Mill and Senator Ted Kennedy are expected to introduce the Employee Free Choice Act into the House of Representatives." The odds of SENATOR Ted introducing a bill into the HOUSE are slim because he is a SENATOR in the SENATE...just a little something I learned in High School...

Second, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to puppet-boy and Vice-President Joe Biden.

"...I have a simple, basic belief, one that we're going to work hard to put into action: If a union is what you want, a union you're entitled to have." From his speech to the AFL-CIO Executive Council. Really? He told the AFL-CIO, "If you want a union, you can have a union? Aren't you guys THE union? I going to guess that they all spontaneously applauded...

Third, why introduce in the House when the Senate is still up in the air?

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on ABC's "This Week" said, "The card check labor bill may not have the 60 votes needed to get out of the Senate." Hell, even Al Franken is still not confirmed in the Senate (I smell an appeal), don't you think they might wait for this Democrat's vote?

Fourth, advertising tells everything. Why would the unions continue to spend millions of dollars in advertising to "educate the public" on how misunderstood unions and their plight are when it comes to evil corporations pillaging their clearly underpaid and uninsured employees? BECAUSE the EFCA spin is a HARD SELL. If the EFCA was easy legislation and if what the unions claim is true--that 60 million employees will sign up for unions once the EFCA is passed...then why all this angst? Why not introduce the EFCA, I don't know, like... today, for example? Yes, introduce it in the House today, pass it on Thursday and then on to the Senate...

WHERE IT WOULD CURRENTLY IMPLODE! That's why.

And last, here's today's rumor for you: The Senate Health Committee is scheduled to host the first hearings of the legislative session on the EFCA starting tomorrow. This would come before the introduction of any formal piece of legislation--House or Senate. Senator Harking will chair the hearings in place of Senator Ted Kennedy. Perhaps the Senate will tackle the EFCA first and then the House as I said previously, get the Senate in order first by resolving Minnesota (Franken) and Illinois (Burris)...

Either way, stop speculating and take advantage of the time you have left to develop a labor relations strategy to effectively communicate your company's position on the EFCA to your managers, supervisors and yes to your employees. Because the rumor I'm starting says, "EFCA late summer, early fall..."