Will they or won’t they? That was the question on Capitol Hill last week as Democrats wrestled with their self-imposed deadline to rush a radical overhaul of our nation’s health care system through both chambers before the month-long August recess started. In the end, that question remained unanswered, with Democrats in both the House and Senate facing stiff opposition to their plan to put bureauc... Read more »
Meet Senator Tom Harkin, secret-ballot supporter … sometimes. The Hill quoted the Iowa Democrat as saying that Senate committee chairmen should be elected every two years by secret ballot – a method the Employee Free Choice Act, which Harkin has co-sponsored, tosses aside for workers during union organization drives. The congressional newspaper reported Wednesday on Harkin’s selective support here... Read more »
It appears time is not on the side of the Employee Free Choice Act. Although it remains a threat, National Journal’s Congress Daily reports that with health care, climate change, and spending bills pending in Congress – plus continuing questions about Democrats’ ability to muster the needed 60 votes – the act’s chances of becoming law this year are dwindling: “Senate efforts to compromise on a wat... Read more »
How fast can the Employee Free Choice Act go from zero to 60 votes? That’s the question Roll Call tried to answer in a report Tuesday. The congressional newspaper says Senate leaders are considering an idea to rush the bill through the chamber as fast as possible to avoid debate and opposition: “As Senate Democrats struggle to hammer out a compromise bill on union organizing, Majority Leader Harry... Read more »
The Employee Free Choice Act will create forced government contracts; it will deny workers the right to a secret ballot (or maybe rush union elections); and it will kick an economy that’s already down. And its supporters want to pass the proposal anyway. That’s what Steve Forbes concludes in a piece he wrote for today’s Politico. The editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine says that supporters are acti... Read more »
If you didn’t know any better, you might assume Dave Baloga is totally behind the Employee Free Choice Act. He is a journeyman with more than 28 years in the Graphic Communications International Union, a subordinate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. As a union member, you might assume he’s solidly behind the act, which has been so heavily lobbied by Big Labor. You’d be wrong. In a let... Read more »
Leave it to National Review to cite not one but two literary giants in its opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. The brainy conservative opinion journal noted, as have others, that the name of the act would make George Orwell proud. (In his classic novel 1984, Orwell wrote about a government that used phrases such as “War is Peace” and “Freedom is Slavery” to lull its citizens into submissio... Read more »
Sniff…what’s that odor? The “new” Employee Free Choice Act does not pass the smell test, two newspapers say. Both the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Harrisonburg, Va., Daily News-Record decried the act’s stench of bad lawmaking in editorials – even after reports that one of its smelliest features, “card check,” would be removed. Senators are being tight-lipped about this alleged compromise, so ... Read more »
The debate over the Employee Free Choice Act is about many things. It’s about a worker’s right to a secret ballot, of course, as well as jobs. But it’s also about forced government contracts, a “disastrous” part of the bill that has taken center stage now that there are reports its “card check” provision could be removed. There are several reasons to oppose binding arbitration, but Investor’s Busi... Read more »
Supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act should take a long, hard look at Michigan before moving forward with the proposal – especially in this struggling economy. That’s what The Detroit News suggested in a Sunday editorial about one of the most destructive features of the act: forced government contracts. The News knows its stuff here. Michigan enacted a similar law in 1969, Public Act 312. It... Read more »
