Senator Arlen Specter (R- Pennsylvania) has ostensibly spoken out against the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA); yet, one can infer from his words, that a compromise might be acceptable.
Senator Specter started out by saying that “the bill’s requirement for compulsory arbitration if an agreement is not reached within 120 days may subject the employer to a deal he or she cannot live with. Such arbitration runs contrary to the basic tenet of the Wagner Act for collective bargaining, which makes the employer liable only for a deal he or she agrees to.” He added that “the problems of the recession make this a particularly bad time to enact [the] Employees’ Free Choice legislation. If [however] efforts are unsuccessful to give labor sufficient bargaining power through amendments to the NLRA, then I would be willing to reconsider [the] Employees’ Free Choice legislation when the economy returns to normalcy.”
The Senator emphasized that his decision was “a close call” and that “labor has a valid point that they have suffered greatly from outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries and losses in pension and health benefits.” Again, he suggested revisions to the National Labor Relations Act, which further indicates that a compromise may be in the offing
The make-up of the Senate, which would be 59 to 40 if Al Franken is seated, would make Senator Specter’s vote the one that could deicide passage of the EFCA, which at this point will sail through a Democratically controlled House of Representatives.
At this time, Corporate America must not only keep up the pressure on its elected representatives to defeat the probable passage of even a watered-down EFCA, but it must also prepare for its possible passage by initiating effective pro-management strategies.
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