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| Senate Democrats pull back on Specter's card-check prediction |
| 2009-09-18 |
| Democratic senators on Wednesday downplayed Sen. Arlen Specter's (D-Pa.) prediction that the chamber would pass a contentious union-organizing bill this year, saying they are in the process of shoring up support for a compromise that is being hashed out. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of several negotiators working to reach agreement on a modified version of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as card-check, said they have made progress toward a deal but have yet to ink one. Several Democrats on Wednesday confessed to knowing nothing about a proposed deal, and the party's top two leaders in the conference called the card-check proposal a work in progress. "We have had real good discussions," Carper said. "As they say, frank and honest discussion. I think we have made real progress and narrowed somewhat of the differences between organized labor and the business community. We are not quite there yet. My hope is we will finish what we have started." Specter on Tuesday told the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh that senators "have pounded out an Employees Choice bill which will meet labor's objectives" and predicted it would pass before the end of this year. That set off a flurry of activity from lawmakers and union officials saying no agreement had been reached. Carper said while negotiations over the bill have come closer to a "consensus approach," no deal has been brokered. Centrist Democrats, Carper said, have not been included in talks among negotiators so far. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 I wouldn't doubt that it applies to disbanding - as well as allowing several 'revotes' (to allow the Thugs to convince people to vote the right way). |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-09-18 18:50 |
| #3 Steve, I think that workers have to vote to form or to disband a union. Right now the vote is secret. The "EFCA" would replace that with an open vote - so that the union thugs would know who should have an unfortunate accident for voting wrongly. It would probably apply to votes for disbanding a union as well - unless the bill outlaws disbanding. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-09-18 18:26 |
| #2 Some workers at Boeing just voted to de-certify their union. I don't know the details of why they did that, but I love the irony: you can form a union with a simple card-check but to disband a union you have to have a vote. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-09-18 08:02 |
| #1 Employee Free Choice Act A fine name and a most excellent example of Newspeak. Calling it the Piss On The Secret Ballot Act, while descriptively correct, would simply give the game away. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-09-18 03:15 |