Mickey Kaus, the reform-minded blogger now at The Daily Caller, takes note of the comments of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)  conceding the legislative death of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). According to a report in The Hill, Brown told WVIZ radio, “It’s not going to happen now.”

To which Kaus responds with cynicism disguised by yuck yuck. From “Why K Street Hates Sherrod Brown”:

Brown may have just sent K Street into recession, if that’s possible. Big Business and Small Business, terrified of the “card check” bill–including its mandatory government arbitration provisions–spent heavily on lobbyists to fight it.  How many former Senate staffers have fed their children for the past three years off of the “card check” menace? Businesses are unlikely to keep the fees flowing if the threat has disappeared. They should take up a collection to bring [Atlantic reporter Mark] Ambinder back from National Journal. Or to pay Sherrod Brown to be quiet.  … You’d think by now Brown would know proper D.C. etiquette, which is to pretend “card check” still might, just might, pass, maybe in some “compromise” form. That way Democrats are happy–they’ve led labor on for another cycle–and K Street is happy. Keep hope alive! It’s good for the juice.) …

You bet, the Employee Free Choice Act was a good issue to energize the troops and raise funds for ad campaigns and lobbying. Small, family-owned businesses especially hate the idea of an undemocratic process — card check — being used to turn their operations over to labor unions. Other companies recognized in the Employee Free Choice labor’s strategy for undermining the competitive advantages of locating in right-to-work states. The binding arbitration provisions were indeed anathema to employers: A federal appointee would impose contracts on them!

Of course, labor would not have put so many millions into the bill if they did not see it as necessary to revive private-sector unionization.

NLRB Member Craig Becker

Still, all the calls to action and appeals for money to oppose EFCA would have fallen flat if the bill had not been a real threat to become law. H.R. 800 passed the House in 2007 by a vote of 241-185, and 51 Senators voted for cloture. That was before President Obama, an ardent supporter, won election in 2008. Of course, business groups geared up to fight the bill. They could no longer rely on President Bush to veto the bill.

And now the Employee Free Choice Act is dead, at least legislatively. No one has even bothered to introduce a bill this session.

But at the risk of being accused of ginning up a threat, we assert that labor is still actively working to achieve the fundamental goal of the legislation: rigging the game to favor private-sector unions at the expense of employers. Now they’re just relying on their allies in the Executive Branch to use regulations, orders and decisions to push through the labor agenda. (continue reading…)

Rep. Hilda Solis, President-elect Obama’s selection for U.S. Secretary of Labor, is a supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act, the legislation that would eliminate secret ballots in the workplace, inviting intimidation of employees. The bill would also require binding arbitration if first-contract negotiations did not reach conclusion within 120 days, imposing a two-year contract on employers and union alike with no possibility of change.

Here is the statement she made on the legislation during House debate on H.R. 800, March 1, 2008:

Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support as a family member from a strong union background. My father was a shop steward for the Teamsters and my mother was a proud worker for the United Rubber Workers, who worked tireless for 20 and 25 years. Without the health protection we received and the retirement benefits, I know myself and my seven siblings wouldn’t be where we are today.

It is important for people to have the ability, especially in this day than a time, when new women, new immigrants, are coming about, and want to be part of the American fabric. One of the ways they can do that is by joining the union, being part of that, to have those protections in place.

When union people get paid good wages, that money stays in the community, it helps to provide a vibrant economy, it helps to also even send their children, like me, who is a child of immigrants and of a union household, to be able to come to college and to eventually even run for office. Wow. Outstanding.

The unions always get a bad name by certain people in this area, but I will tell you one thing: I am very proud to stand with many of our union members to see how they have revitalized many of our communities, especially in Los Angeles.

I ask for you to support H.R. 800.

Here’s the YouTube video of her floor statement.

From the Washington Post, “Battle Deepens Over Union Organizing“:

In recent television ads, opponents have linked heavy unionization to job cuts and other problems afflicting the airline, steel and automobile industries.

“I really worry that this issue is a public policy disaster and political nightmare in waiting,” said political strategist Mark McKinnon.

McKinnon, who worked for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the Republican primary season but refused to work against Obama in the general election, argued that the opposition to the issue could jeopardize the rest of Obama’s legislative agenda. “I think it has the potential to be like gays in the military was for Clinton if they try to roll this out quickly,” he said.

Weekly Standard, The Blog, “The Tale of Blagojevich, and What (If Anything) the Transition Knew“:

If the SEIU was freelancing with Blagojevich, Obama’s inclination to extend himself for Big Labor by pushing Congress on card check should shrink considerably.

You would sure hope.

It now appears the Democrats will not reach the 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filisbuster. Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic comments in “60 Might Have Mattered“:

A Republican senator, speaking to reporters this morning, offered up EFCA, the “Employee Free Choice Act” — card check — as a prime example of where Republicans would unite to fight tooth and nail against the Democrats and the Obama White House.

“We will do everything we possibly can to get every Republican on board,” the senator said.”We’re even working on Arlen,” the senator said, referring to Pennsylvania’s Sen. Specter, a reliable ally of labor unions. A few Democrats, the senator said, will be targeted…[snip]

Card check would allow workers to “show cards” at a union-sponsored event; if more than 50% of them did, then the union would be recognized as the bargaining agent for the workers. Alternatively, employees could ask for a secret ballot election, but employers would have to recognize its results. Labor unions have been salivating for card check elections, as their ranks would significantly expand because of it; Obama has promised to sign it.

Well, that’s not right. Here’s the text of H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act. No meetings required. You can intimidate the employees into signing individually. Although in a small group, perhaps you could crowd them all into a room at one time and impress upon them the need to sign.

If the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations designating the individual or labor organization specified in the petition as their bar gaining representative and that no other individual or labor organization is currently certified or recognized as the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the unit, the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization as the representative described in subsection (a).

From a Politico story on the political pressure Senate Democrats face over the anti-democratic Employee Free Choice Act:

“We don’t know if we have 60 yet. We’re at 59 [for cloture] right now,” said Josh Goldstein, a spokesman for American Rights at Work, a pro-labor group. “The issue has become front and center, and the worse the economy gets, the more support we get. [Business groups are] trying to make this a volatile issue for senators.”

That’s some spin.

You can claim the 59 votes for cloture with some measure of sincerity. It may be wrong, but it’s not a dishonest claim.

Otherwise, the issue of card check has been front and center since the Senate voted to block H.R. 800 in June 2007. As for the other nonsense:

“The worse the economy gets, the more support it gets.” Sure. The worse the economy gets, the more the public demands the employees be forced into unions against their will. The more attention given to labor’s fault for the domestic auto industry’s difficulties, the more the public says, “Give us more of that!”

“Business groups are trying to make this a volatile issue.” Snort. It’s not business groups that are trying to destroy the secret ballot in the workplace or enact the biggest shift in employer-employee relations since the 1935 Wagner Act. Throw gasoline on the fire of labor relations and don’t be surprised when things get “volatile,” Mr. Goldstein.

Next thing you know labor representatives will try to claim that the Employee Free Choice Act doesn’t eliminate the secret ballot. Do they think the public is stupid?

UPDATE (4:13 p.m.) Well, that didn’t take long. From Dow-Jones:

An aide to Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said that the bill doesn’t address the question of secret ballot votes at all.
It would compel employers to agree to the creation of a union when presented with 50% of worker support, the aide said.

We’ve got a round-up of latest news and commentary on the anti-democratic Employee Free Choice Act over at the Point of Law blog, “Employee Free Choice Act, the maneuvering,” with a focus on the legal aspects.

Also worth reading is an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Democrats Shouldn’t Rush on Labor Legislation,” by Ariella Bernstein.

The labor movement has announced that it will push passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in the first 100 days of the Obama administration. There is even talk of adding it to President-elect Barack Obama’s stimulus legislation, to reduce the spotlight on the issue. This haste is a mistake.

I am a Democrat who has worked at both the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), two agencies that figure prominently in this legislation. I believe we need a better understanding of the problems before signing on to this bill as the solution.

She highlights some specific concerns and uncertainties, noting that government data are available that could provide some answers.

And, a very timely observation…

And what about the cost of EFCA to Main Street employers, already under pressure in this economy? With companies struggling to survive and the credit markets tightening, passing this bill does not guarantee widespread unionized employment or wage increases.

And to the headline question, “What do we really know?” One answer is clear: We know it would destroy the secret-ballot in union representation elections.

Ridiculous. Neither the moderators nor the candidates posed a question in the three debates, including tonight, on the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act.

There’s a clear difference between Senator Obama and Senator McCain on legislation that would fundamentally reshape business-labor relations in the United States, destroy the secret ballot in the workplace, and push the U.S. toward the static, statist labor market that hampers European growth. And not a single question. (Tonight’s transcript.)

Criminy. Can’t we get Mickey Kaus to moderate one of these gigs? From Kausfiles:

Obama’s Fast Labor Payoff: kf hears from a trustworthy non-Republican source (with access to actual insider information) that the Dems are getting set to pass “card check” legislation fast next year, right out of the box, assuming Obama wins and the Democrats get their expected big Senate majority. The legislation–which would eliminate the secret ballot in union organizing elections, allowing union organizers to gather signed cards person-to-person–is cheap, in budgetary terms. And it’s very, very important to organized labor. …Obama’s political history suggests he’s not a “fight the power” kind of guy. He’s an “accommodate the power” kind of guy. It’s highly plausible that he’d be willing to pay off this debt to Big Labor up front if they push him hard enough. … Since I think “card check” legislation is a potential near-disaster economically (unions are engines of adversarial bureaucracy and the mainspring of the wage-price spiral) and procedurally (the secret ballot certainly seems like a key way to avoid intimidation) this is not good news. … P.S.: Would it be a good move for Obama? Bill Clinton got into trouble, right after he took office, when in the middle of a troubled economic situation his first priority seemed to be gays-in-the-military. Obama likewise risks having it look like his first priority isn’t helping the average citizen but helping a key Democratic interest group. … In Clinton’s case,, that damaging first impression was maybe unfair (the gays issue just happened fo flare up). In Obama’s case it won’t be. …[Thought you were pro-Obama--ed Yes. But I am, as they say, concerned!  Not scheduled to enter full pro-Obama BS mode for at least two more weeks.] … 4:58 P.M.

Former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern is featured in a television ad scheduled to run during tonight’s TV debate between Senator Obama and Senator McCain. The topic? The undemocratic Employee Free Choice Act, which McGovern strenuously opposes.

Take a look.

Amanda Carpenter at Townhall reports on the ad sponsored by the Employee Freedom Action Committee, quoting Senator McGovern:

I’m concerned about a bill in Congress that would effectively eliminate an employee’s right to a private vote when deciding whether to join a union.

It’s hard to believe that any politician would agree to a law denying millions of employees the right to a private vote. I have always been a champion of labor unions. But I fear that today’s union leaders are turning their backs on democratic workplace elections. I’ve listened to all their arguments and reviewed the facts on both sides. Quite simply, this proposed law cannot be justified. Working families deserve a voice and a private vote.

What a splendid topic to pursue during tonight’s debate. Something along the lines of, “Senator Obama: You support the Employee Free Choice Act, and yet so notable a Democrat as George McGovern denounces the measure for destroying an employee’s private vote. Can you explain why employees should not be able to decide their membership in a union via a secret ballot?”

An e-mail to blogger Jon Henke from an attendee at a business event in Portland, Maine, an educational effort sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to explain the realities of the Employee Free Choice Act.

I just came from a press conference held by the US Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.  It was held in Portland and dealt with the EFCA [Employee Free Choice Act - i.e., Card Check].   …

After the news conference we went on the US Chambers special bus to Monument Square in the center of Portland.  There were at least 75 union members holding a protest rally against the Chamber and in support of the EFCA.  The interesting thing is the protest was organized by the Maine Democratic Party.

There were about 15 of us on the bus and nobody wanted to get off, so I led the way.  We were heckled, swore at, and called some names. One of the young ladies from the chamber tried to set up some tables and put leaflets and information on it and the protesters kicked the tables over on the lady who was not hurt.  …

Well, the scene from the TV report shows some dope in a wheelchair tipping over a table, which doesn’t quite amount to thuggery, but the union harassment of citizens expressing their First Amendment rights is certainly on full display. Guess the First Amendment is not a concern for union organizers.

Meanwhile, the unions and, alas, even Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME), running against Sen. Susan Collins, continue to pretend that card check legislation will not do away with the secret ballot. From AP coverage of the event:

Allen said the bill “does not eliminate a secret ballot but simply creates an alternative procedure for working people to organize for better benefits and pay. Under the current laws, the employers decide when and if an election can be held. They often delay those elections for years and in many cases the election is never held at all.”

This is just not the case, and advocates of card check know it’s not the case. Justin Wilson at UnionFacts.org this week had a good column explaining the falsehoods behind the claim that card check is just an alternative system, one that still allows secret ballot elections. From the “30-50 Myth“:

While there may be some mention of elections remaining in the legislation, they will become the appendix of union organizational campaigns—there, but an unused vestige of days gone by.

Frankly, it defies logic—and I’m going to give union leaders the benefit of the doubt here—to suggest that a union that is incapable of getting cards from 50% of the employees would go to an election where they expect an additional 25% fall off. In fact, the AFL-CIO admitted that “It is not until the union obtains signatures from 75% or more of the unit that the union has more than a 50% likelihood of winning the election.”

What union organizer would risk losing an election—and thus being barred from redoubling his or her efforts to unionize the company—with less than a majority of employees’ signed cards? None.

Don’t believe the opponents of card check? Well, then, how about the administrative law judge in Minnesota who rejected a partisan complaint against ads that said card check would eliminate the secret ballot?

Harassment, falsehood and legal attacks against the First Amendment — the modus operandi of those who support card check. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act and bring that ugliness to the workplace near you.