For the past several months, the Employee Free Choice Act has been endangered. The bill never garnered enough support in the Senate as moderate Democrats feared backlash from business groups. Immediately after last year’s election, organized labor thought they could easily force through the legislation. The AFL-CIO made it clear Card Check was their top priority.
“The AFL-CIO is committed to building a grassroots program to fight for this agenda of economic renewal, and will build a grassroots structure modeled on the successful Labor 2008 program. Our energy and resources will be deployed as necessary to turn around America. We recognize that nobody but the American labor movement will make restoring the freedom to organize priority #1; thus our first focus is building a filibuster-proof majority for the Employee Free Choice Act.”
But following a meeting with President Obama today, labor is pushing EFCA to the back burner.
“President Barack Obama met with a dozen top labor leaders this afternoon for 45 minutes, winning the support of organized labor for his drive to reform health care by year’s end. The closed-door meeting at the White House included U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO, and Andrew L. Stern, president of the giant Service Employees International Union … Sweeney said health-care is the AFL-CIO’s No. 1 priority, and the Employee Free Choice Act is the No. 2 priority. He also raised concerns about the fate of pensions.”
This could be the final indication that Card Check is dead. When unable to pass the bill early in the Congressional session, liberals turned to healthcare and climate change as their keynote issues. With labor also backing off, it’s unlikely we see EFCA come to a vote this year as Congress deals with other contentious bills in a crowded legislative agenda.