Still shrouded in controversy and overshadowed by health care and appropriations issues, the Employee Free Choice Act (“EFCA”) is less likely to be subject to a vote this year, as the Wall Street Journal reports.

Attempts to resolve the controversy through compromise measures have divided the bill’s supporters, as many EFCA-advocates balked at reports that the card-check provision may be dropped.  The Service Employees International Union responded by organizing a petition-signing effort to send Congress 18,000 signatures supporting the card-check provision, which would provide for union certification based solely on signed authorization cards from a majority of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit.  Reports of compromise efforts have also shifted the controversy over EFCA’s card-check provision to the bill’s other components, as opponents mobilize against binding arbitration and increased penalties for employers.

EFCA also has little chance of garnering the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture without the votes of Senators Edward Kennedy and Robert Byrd, two labor supporters whose illnesses may prevent them from physically appearing on the Senate floor for a vote.  These obstacles, combined with the current focus on health care and appropriations issues, make a Senate vote this year on EFCA less likely.