Secret Ballot Watch

Supporters of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act are having a hard time getting their stories straight. Sen. Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who has been leading negotiations for the bill, is the latest EFCA supporter to offer varying reasons for why the anti-worker plan hasn’t received a vote in the Senate.

The Hill tries to sort it all out here:  

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 “Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said Thursday that he had the 60 Senate votes necessary in July to clear the card-check bill through the Senate.

“But when he called ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) longtime doctor, he was told the lawmaker was too ill to travel to Washington and could not vote on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier to organize unions and is a high legislative priority for labor unions.

“‘As of July — I can tell you this openly and I know the press is all here — but we had worked out a pretty good agreement. Labor was at the table,’ Harkin told a crowd of activists organized by American Rights at Work, a labor advocacy group. The activists swarmed Capitol Hill on Thursday to lobby for the bill. …

“It is unclear what the deal would have included, and Harkin declined to provide details after his remarks.

“‘I will not say, because it was closely held, it never leaked out and it still hasn’t,’ Harkin said. ‘I took it off the front-burner and put it on the back-burner, so it is still on warm, OK?'"

Bogardus, “Harkin: Kennedy’s illness stalled card-check,” The Hill, 09.10.09 

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But The Hill questions Harkin’s vote count.   

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“Harkin’s statement suggests he might have thought he had the votes after Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was seated in July. That briefly gave Democrats 60 votes in the Senate.

“But even before Kennedy died, Democratic leaders could not count on all 60 votes. Kennedy’s brain cancer kept him away from Washington most of the year, and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has also suffered from ill health.”

Bogardus, “Harkin: Kennedy’s illness stalled card-check,” The Hill, 09.10.09 

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Meanwhile, CongressDaily reports that Harkin has declared the bill nearly dead for this year:  

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“The leading Senate backer of the Employee Free Choice Act candidly told supporters today that the bill may be stalled for the rest of the year, even as he pledged to make it a top priority in the next session.

“‘I'll be honest with you. It may not happen this year,’ Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Tom Harkin told about 300 supporters assembled by American Rights at Work, a coalition of students, civil rights advocates and other activists not affiliated with labor unions. …

“Despite his dampening of expectations for the bill's prospects this year – which was met with groans of dismay by the crowd at today's rally – Harkin pledged to use his new post as chairman of the HELP Committee to pass the measure ‘this session of Congress,’ if not before the end of the year.”

Dann, “Card-Check Rally Gets Sobering News,” CongressDaily (subscription required), 09.10.09 

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Got that? But wait, there’s more: Earlier this summer, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid explained the decision not to vote on EFCA by saying, “We have too many other things on our plate.”

And back in July, Harkin himself said “nothing is happening” on card check. That’s July, when he supposedly had reached a compromise that could muster 60 votes. “Harkin and other senators and aides involved in discussions on the union organizing bill said the group has not met in two weeks and has no plans to talk again before the August recess,” CongressDaily reported at the time.

Of course, July is also when Roll Call reported on Democrats developing a strategy“for railroading the bill through the floor as quickly as possible”once they were able to reach consensus.

It never happened.No matter when it appears on the Senate floor, the Employee Free Choice Act must not pass. Its ability to set aside a worker’s right to a secret ballot is bad enough. But the act’s power to force government contracts on business is just as bad – especially during these tough economic times.

These are just a few reasons why – despite their majority – Senate Democrats cannot get the votes they need for this bill. It’s clearly terrible legislation. Indeed, it’s clearer than the shifting statements of the act’s supporters.

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