Regardless of whether the Democrats ultimately get to the magic number 60 in the Senate, the Wall Street Journal today reports that organized labor expects President-Elect Obama to deliver on his pledge to pass EFCA:

President-elect Barack Obama has promised to fight for the legislation, but whether it is introduced in the first 100 days of his administration could signal how strongly he is aligning himself with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, say political consultants. Moderate Democrats and those who have just won seats in traditionally Republican states are expected to argue against making the legislation an early priority.

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After unions spent more than $400 million on the election and mounted massive voter-turnout efforts for Mr. Obama, they're inclined to push for bringing the Employee Free Choice Act up for a vote early next year, believing they have a narrow window to get it passed. They're worried other issues could emerge to eclipse the legislation, and that business would have more time to mount opposition the longer action is delayed.

Kilpatrick Stockton's Richard Hankins was quoted in a similar Reuters piece today. 

Over at Slate, Mickey Kaus -- Obama supporter, EFCA critic -- suggests re-naming a potential compromise bill the "Al Franken Lost So All We Got Was This Pro Labor Act," before noting that "even the watered down law terrifies business, largely because of its binding-arbitration provision."  (Of course, an army of lawyers is likely to take a strong position the next few weeks on whether or not "Al Franken Lost.")

Workforce Management today carries a quote by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka that strongly suggests "compromise" is high on Labor's list of priorities:

“There are an infinite number of strategies to get that passed rather than a straight-up vote—and they will get our full attention,” he said.

And the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) continues to track EFCA and the Obama Labor agenda, among other issues important to its constituents, at its ShopFloor.org blog.