EFCA - Quick While No One is Looking

by JP Fielder

Quickie legislation for quickie elections? From Roll Call:

As Senate Democrats struggle to hammer out a compromise bill on union organizing, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is sketching a process for railroading the bill through the floor as quickly as possible to prevent Republicans from rallying a major campaign against it, senior Democratic aides said...Cutting off debate on the bill would likely ignite a major partisan firestorm, and top Democrats will look to make their move as fast as possible, according to the Democratic aides. "This is not the kind of thing where we could have a long, drawn-out rollout. We'd have to say, 'Here's the deal,' and then get to the floor and get it passed before anyone can mobilize against it," one leadership aide said.

...Progressives and union leaders have largely been cool to the idea of a compromise that doesn't include the union voting provision. When the latest proposal for moving an arbitration-only bill was floated, top union officials largely said they would support it, but only because they would reinsert the card-check provisions in conference...Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern — who has participated in the Senate talks — said in a statement earlier this year that no matter what deal clears the Senate, the voting provisions would be included "in the final bill or by amendment in both houses of Congress."

But Democrats said any deal that Harkin is able to get with moderates in the Senate will have to be the final word on the legislation — at least for now — and that no major changes could be made if it is expected to become law..."It's ... the kind of thing that the House would have to eat," a Democratic aide said, explaining that Democrats in the Senate will need union officials to make the case to Pelosi that she should pass the bill "as is." The hope is that union officials will accept an imperfect bill as better than nothing.

EFCA is nothing if not imperfect, in fact the only good EFCA is a dead EFCA. Steve Forbes in the Politico:

Another egregious provision in EFCA — and potentially the most detrimental — is mandatory, binding arbitration. This threatens employers with a federal government takeover of their small business and takes away a worker's right to have a say on his or her own contract. EFCA would allow federal bureaucrats to mandate contract terms on businesses and eliminate an employee's right to vote on that contract. Those mandates on wages, benefits and workplace conditions would increase costs and burdens on employers resulting in massive layoffs and increased unemployment. These contracts would be binding for two years, which raises the question: In this economy, how many businesses would be able to last that long?

What is important for people to understand is that government arbitrators would dictate the terms of contracts despite what either side wants. In normal arbitration, the arbitrator serves as an interpreter of a contract that was agreed upon by both parties. I can't imagine giving the federal government this role, yet it remains in the bill. Allowing the government to decide on contracts would de-incentivize any meaningful dialogue on the part of union bosses and organizers, thereby putting small businesses in a terrible position.

...Congress needs to understand that any form of "compromise" on the Employee "Forced" Choice Act that includes elements of forced unionization — like quick elections — or mandatory, binding arbitration is a complete and total nonstarter...It is clear that Big Labor will say and do anything to move this legislation forward and that it is not concerned with the integrity of the debate or whether businesses and our economy can withstand the results. Big Labor's concern is not for workers but the bottom line of the organizations they have mismanaged.