Skip to Content

Secret Ballot Watch

EFCA Supporter Admits Act’s Chances Are Slim

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 19, 2009 | Alexa Marrero or Ryan Murphy ((202) 225-4527)

It’s starting to sink in.

A major supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act admitted Wednesday that serious bipartisan opposition to the bill has made its passage on Capitol Hill unlikely this year – and maybe the next.

The Las Vegas Sun, which also reported on Nevada’s attempts to block EFCA, has the details here:

 


 

“John Wilhelm, president of Unite Here, the international hotel and casino workers union, told attendees at the Global Gaming Expo on Wednesday that the Employee Free Choice Act has dim legislative prospects — and that unions shouldn’t rely on it as a fix-all solution to labor’s decades-long membership slide.

“‘There is no possibility it comes up in the Senate this year,’ said Wilhelm, also the onetime leader of the Culinary Union. ‘Whether it comes up next year is open to question, and whether it gets 60 votes in the Senate is open to question.’

“He added: ‘I support it. But I don’t regard it as a magic bullet.’

“The comments are in stark contrast to those of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who has pledged to get ‘card check’ legislation, along with health care reform, passed this year. But with Congress bogged down in the health care debate, labor law reform looks increasingly unlikely — at least in the short term.”

Mishak, “Union leader says ‘card check’ is on Senate’s back burner,” Las Vegas Sun, 11.19.09


The confusion among EFCA supporters is nothing new. But it’s about time that they get organized enough to accept the obvious: The act is a bad idea – really, really bad during these tough economic times – and should be scrapped.

Stay Connected