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Secret Ballot Watch

Support Dwindles for Anti-Worker Card Check Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 18, 2009 | Alexa Marrero ((202) 225-4527)
It has been nearly two months since the 111th Congress was gaveled into session, and yet congressional Democrats still have not formally introduced their misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would actually deny workers a free choice by denying their right to a secret ballot. Arkansas News Bureau columnist David J. Sanders speculates on the holdup:
 
"Last year the bill had 230 original co-sponsors in the House, including a few Republican backers who hailed from states dominated by unions. Supporters picked up three additional co-sponsors before being passed.

"The bill had 46 co-sponsors in the Senate.
 
"Even though the bill has not been introduced yet, according to reports there are only 202 current co-sponsors in the House and 38 in the Senate. The numbers show that Democrats who supported card check in the past could very well be experiencing some angst this time around."
 
Sanders, “Blue dog Democrats oppose card check,” Arkansas News, 02.18.09
 

The delay is curious, especially since special interest groups have been calling for quick passage of the legislation for months, even going so far as to call it “payback" for their political support and financial contributions in the last election.

Card check supporters moved much more quickly in the 110th Congress, despite the fact—or perhaps because of it?—that a Presidential veto was assured. Card check legislation was formally introduced on February 5, 2007 with 230 original cosponsors. The bill picked up an additional three cosponsors as it made its way through the legislative process.

By this point in 2007, the bill had already been debated in committee and was set for a vote in the full U.S. House of Representatives. Now, for whatever reason, supporters cannot even muster the support they’re seeking to introduce the bill, much less bring it to a vote. Might the 74 percent of voters who oppose this plan have something to do with this seeming change of heart?

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