Here’s a one-sentence quote from each of the Employee Free Choice Act speeches last week from the Senate floor (please click the links and read the full speeches, as one sentence simply does not do many of them justice):

June 19, 2007

Sen. John Isakson (R-GA)

But why do you all of a sudden create a situation of intimidation, an unbalanced situation, an uneven playing field, all for the sake of trying to save a movement that won't save itself?

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

What unions really want is to silence the employer during a union organizing campaign through a card check process.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (MA)

Are we going to go back to this period of time when we as a country and a society grow together, or are we going to continue to grow apart?

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)

A recent analysis from the National Labor Relations Board shows that one in five union supporters are illegally fired for union activity during the organizing campaign.

[NOTE:  Contrary to Senator Murray’s statement, there has never been any such “analysis” from the NLRB.  That statistical claim has been made by a pro-union professor and, like many other statistics cited by EFCA supporters, has been widely disputed.]

Sen. Robert Melendez (D-NJ)

The Employee Free Choice Act would close loopholes that have allowed employers to abuse the labor process without repercussion, and it would beef up the penalties for violation.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

This legislation is vital to the health, economic health of working men and women and vital to keeping a middle class in America and not reverting to the old days, when you had very few wealthy people and a large number of struggling people.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Approximately 60 million workers--that is 60 million--say they want to join a union right now, and the reasons why are clear: Union workers earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers; union workers are 62 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage; and union workers are 400 percent more likely to have access to pension plans.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Fifty-three percent of U.S. workers state they would join a union if they could and 62 percent believe they would be worse off if unions did not exist.

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI)

One of the best things we can do for American workers is to remove obstacles that make it harder for them to form and join unions.

Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-IA)

By comparing organizing campaigns in the United States and Canada, the study found that more worker-friendly certification rules increase union participation.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)

Instead of giving some CEO $600 million for very little performance, they may have to make do with $300 million.

Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY)

The current rate of alleged employer unfair labor practices represents a drop of nearly 24 percent compared to 1990; a staggering 42 percent when compared to 1980.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

I might point out the Employee Free Choice Act does not abolish the secret election process.

Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY)

Essentially, private ballot elections will only take place under H.R. 800 if the union chooses to have one by submitting authorization cards from less than 50 percent of the workers. As a practical matter, that will never happen.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

Imagine the business being, in effect, turned over to a Federal arbitrator to impose whatever wages, benefits, terms, and conditions of employment the arbitrator chose to impose, as Elkouri states, "affected by the arbitrator's own economic or social theories, often without the benefit or understanding of practical, competitive economic forces"?