Is Obama Cooling on Card Check?
EmailABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports:
Is Barack Obama cooling on labor’s top priority?
During his Thursday interview with The Washington Post, the president-elect seemed in no hurry to have Congress consider the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation backed by organized labor and opposed by business which would make union organizing easier.
"If we’re losing half a million jobs a month, then there are no jobs to unionize, so my focus first is on those key economic priority items," said Obama, declining to say whether he wanted to see the issue debated in 2009.
Obama reiterated that he personally supports the legislation while saying that there may be other ways to achieve the goal of making union organizing easier without angering the business community which has engaged in a fierce effort to kill the bill.
The legislation known as the Employee Free Choice Act would allow workers to form a union by obtaining a majority of signatures from employees in a workplace. It would strip business of the right to demand a secret election.
The Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year but did not get through the United States Senate where 60 votes are needed for cloture which cuts off debate and allows senators to vote on the underlying legislation.
Even though Democrats expanded their Senate majority in the 2008 elections from 51 to 58 or 59 seats (depending on the outcome of the Minnesota race), the Employee Free Choice Act still lacks the 60 votes needed for cloture.
If Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is facing a potentially tough primary and general election fight next year, continues to support the Employee Free Choice Act in the new Congress, something which is still not clear, organized labor thinks that it can get the necessary 60 votes in the Senate.
Supporters of the legislation privately acknowledge, however, that it will take the outspoken support of Obama to win over three Democratic senators — Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, and Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln — who are still undecided on whether to support cloture.
"Sen. Ben Nelson votes most of the time for cloture and doesn’t like to use cloture for any kind of obstruction but he hasn’t decided how he’ll proceed when the issues comes up," Jake Thompson, a Nelson spokesman, told ABC News. "He is hoping it doesn’t come up soon because he believes economic issue should be dealt with for the near future."
ABC News’ Ferdous Al-Faruque contributed to this report.
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The union thugs should not be allowed to intimidate workers into supporting them. That is the only reason this bill is being proposed. People oppose unionization because they know it will ultimately harm the companies that they work for and they might loose their jobs. Why would anyone think that forcing people to publicly declare their vote is appropriate? If they vote against the union and the union can identify them they will use intimidation and threats to get them to chnage thaeir minds. This is in no way in keeping with our democratic ideals.
The unions are a disgrace to America. They come to Washington to beg for bailout money. Yet, they refuse to give up a 6 million dollar retreat that their overpaid leaders use at their members expense.
The Detroit paper have finally started to look into the unions. They followed two union bosses around and found that the would clock into work and then go home after a few hours. They had time to go to the liquor store and to go shopping but just didn’t seem to have any time to actually work. To add insult to injury, they were claiming 20 or 30 hours of overtime while they were working little more that 20 hours per week.
This is pathetic. This is the attitude and arrogance of the unions. This is emblematic of the greed of the unions. Card check is nothing but a license to intimidate and steal.
Posted by: James | January 17, 2009, 9:56 am 9:56 am
Well, soon-to-be president Obama won this election with broad union support because of his stance on this issue. For him to fudge on it even a little bit would be quite a betrayal. Whether you are for or against the Employee Free Choice Act, the current state of the economy is not an excuse to change your stance. You either believe in the secret election process which already exists, or you believe that over 50% of the employees should have to fill out a card. Obama has already stated his position and if he is balking, that certainly brings about questions of his honesty. Was he stating his positions on different topics to win the election, or because he really believed in what he said he believed in?
Posted by: Rod M | January 17, 2009, 10:34 am 10:34 am
Is there any issue about which Obama has the same views he spouted during the election-either primary or general? This is the “change” you all wanted. Obama will say anything at all to get what he wants. Just don’t expect him to mean it. He has no deep convictions or beliefs about anything.
Posted by: Keith | January 17, 2009, 11:16 am 11:16 am
Unions had their use. Now, like anything that gains power, they are corrupt.
Much like politicians.
It’s fun watching the knifing begin. “Wait! You said you were on our…urk!”
Posted by: Laughing Cynic | January 17, 2009, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
I know the Unions helped Obama get elected, but hopefully this is a sign that he is thinking about this issue a bit more carefully. I really hope that members of Congress start to re-examine this issue as well.
I have no problems with unions, as long as employees choose when they want to form one and when they don’t. To that end, I support secret ballot elections and dislike the provision in Card Check which would remove that right from workers. Without secret ballot elections, I think there will be lots of intimidation to vote certain ways, just like political elections in the early 1900s.
Also, I’m against the provision that forces arbitration if a contract isn’t agreed to within 120 days. Since businesses can afford to wait that period out fairly easily, the workers would typically lose in any arbitration.
I know there are lots of organizations working to help Congress understand these issues better – and to let them know that they should be working for the American workers instead of the labor unions. For instance, the Friends of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has some more information here – http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/email/email4.cfm?id=192
I encourage people to get involved and find out more information about this issue and contact their Congressional representative to make sure they understand your views.
Posted by: JJ | January 17, 2009, 7:35 pm 7:35 pm
“Is Obama cooling on labor’s top pri-
ority”…….the answer is NO….but
c’mon…isn’t Obama Cool?…whatever
he does….I mean this cat is cooooooooooooooool.
Posted by: grizzly bare | January 18, 2009, 11:53 pm 11:53 pm