CAWP News Issue 6-09

PA Senator Specter says Compromise Reached on EFCA

Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) announced to delegates attending the AFL-CIO convention this past week that a group of senators has “pounded out” a compromise on the proposed Employee Free Choice Act.

The compromise described by Specter does not contain card check recognitions, but he described it as a package that could satisfy labor’s priorities, including quick certification of elections, tough penalties for employer who break the law, and binding arbitration.

Immediately following Specter’s comments, however, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who was elected president of the federation on September 16, told reporters that a deal on the legislation “hasn’t been finalized. It’s still a moving target.”

Speaking with reporters following his speech, Specter said he and a small group of senators, including Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Thomas Carper (D-Del.), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Mark Pryor (D-Ark) have agreed on an outline of a bill that “we think will bring 60 votes for cloture,” allowing the bill to move to the floor. He said that many details still need to be worked out, but predicted that the bill will be passed “before the year is up.”

Telling reporters that it would not be possible to pass a bill without maintaining a secret ballot election, Specter said the card check authorization provision has been dropped from the framework. Instead, the proposed framework calls for the holding of prompt elections, although he would not be specific about a time frame.

Specter said that the outline calls for “last, best offer binding arbitration,” but added that “we haven’t pinned down a time frame” for when that would have to take place.

Source: BNA Construction Labor Report, Vol. 55 No. 2736