As we have previously forecasted on this blog, a group of pro-labor Senators have reportedly agreed to drop the controversial card-check provision from the proposed Employee Free Choice Act ("EFCA").  The card-check provision has been viewed as the central tenet of EFCA, a bill often referred to simply as the "card check bill."  Now that it has become clear EFCA lacks the votes to withstand a Republican filibuster, some of its supporters are now trying to strip the card check out of the "card check bill."

EFCA’s card-check provision would provide for union certification based solely on signed authorization cards from a majority of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, functionally eliminating secret ballot elections, which have been the primary means of establishing union-representation rights for more than seventy years.  The debate over secret ballot elections has ignited passion on both sides and has prompted past EFCA supporters, including Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, to change positions on the bill.  Senator Specter is now among the Senate Democrats, including Tom Harkin of Iowa, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Thomas Carper of Delaware, and Charles Schumer of New York, announcing that the card-check provision will be eliminated for a compromise version of the bill, according to the New York Times.  It has been suggested that the card-check provision would be replaced by shortening the campaign period and requiring faster elections. 

Other EFCA supporters are not ready to abandon card check.  In response to last week’s New York Times article, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has launched a petition campaign to collect 15,000 signatures in support of card check.  SEIU’s President Andy Stern has stated that he expects a vote on the card check provision by both houses of Congress.  A spokesperson for the AFL-CIO has also denied the existence of any deal to drop the card-check provision.

If and when it becomes clear that the card-check provision is indeed off the table, EFCA’s other components may finally receive the attention they deserve.  In addition to enhancing penalties for employer violations of the National Labor Relations Act, EFCA provides for binding arbitration to establish the terms of an initial two-year collective bargaining agreement if the employer and the union cannot agree after a fixed period of negotiations and mediation.  The bill would empower a government-appointed arbitrator to determine a contract’s terms and impose his or her own opinions on wages, benefits, and other terms of employment on an employer.  Management groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are already mobilizing against a card-check-free version of EFCA.