The Senate HELP Committee held a hearing on EFCA this morning as a prelude to the bill’s introduction in both the House and Senate today.
Sen. Lamar Alexander called EFCA “the most radical piece of legislation before Congress” and “the most divisive issue before the Senate.” Considering all that’s gone on recently, that’s saying something.
A few observations on the hearing:
1. During the approximately 2 1/2 hour hearing hardly any mention was made of EFCA’s mandatory arbitration provision. That provision is at least as troublesome as card check, and the bill’s opponents must be careful not to let it slide through without comment.
2. The rhetoric from EFCA proponents was suffused with wage ”fairness.” Only one witness noted the possibility that EFCA could result in significant job loss.
3. EFCA proponents tried to portray passage of EFCA as a civil-rights issue (and a moral issue). They failed, however, to explain how elimination of the secret ballot squares with one of the primary objectives of the civil-rights movement — access to the secret ballot .
4. Perhaps the most intriguing comments came from Senator Harkin, who repeatedly emphasized the need for unions to have “equal access” to employees during union campaigns. This may be a signal that a compromise to card check might be “quickie elections” paired with certain ”equal access” guarantees. That is, union supporters would be permitted to, say, use company email or gain access to portions of company property to contact employees. Such a compromise would be no bargain whatsoever for employers.