Secret Ballot Watch

Workers worried about their right to privacy in choosing to unionize or their right to vote on a contract may have breathed a collective sigh of relief over the weekend when a Democratic Senator pronounced the controversial card check plan “dead.”

Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), one of a handful of Senate Democrats who have balked at a plan that detractors view as an assault on workers’ rights and economic growth, raised serious doubt about reported negotiations to resuscitate card check:  

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“‘The Employee Free Choice Act is dead, and I am not working on a compromise to this bill,’ Pryor said. ‘However, I continue to meet with business, labor and my colleagues to discuss the potential for common ground to make sure the process for forming a union is fair for workers and employers. This is an effort to bring new ideas to the table, but there is no draft and there remains a lot of distance between the various parties.’”

Watkins, “Pryor says Employee Free Choice Act is dead,” The Daily Citizen, 06.13.09

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Not so fast.

Roll Call reports this morning that the bill is far from dead:  

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“The bill, which would make it easier for workers to unionize, is the source of closed-door negotiations led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who has said he wants a vote next month.

“Harkin continued to meet last week with Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) on an EFCA rewrite. The quartet is working out a deal in the hopes of picking off a handful of votes to reach the 60 needed to cut off debate in the chamber.”

Murray, “A Compromising Situation,” Roll Call, 06.15.09 

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In fact, reports Congressional Quarterly, the Democrats’ negotiations seem intent on crafting a partisan proposal that could squeak through the Senate on a straight party-line vote only if Democrat Al Franken is seated in the still-contested Minnesota Senate race:  

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“Bill supporters have not given up. The negotiators have been meeting ‘several times a week,’ according to Specter, a pro-labor former Republican who refused to support the original legislation. …

“The working group has been considering a variety of proposals, including time limits for secret-ballot elections once ordered, petition sign-ups by mail, negotiation windows of longer than 120 days and arbitration procedures based on last, best offers.

“But the group will likely need Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota to be seated in order to get the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on a card check bill.”

Demirjian, “Talks on 'Card Check' Compromise Widen Somewhat,” CQ Today, 06.11.09

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Looks like workers shouldn’t be resting easy just yet. Special interests have invested millions, and they aren’t likely to give up on card check anytime soon.

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