Listening to Willie Brown on Hardball or any number of CEOs on CNBC it has become clear that the opposition to the public option is far more then a concern about health care or even ideology. This is about power.

They cannot allow progressives a win of any kind because it could lead to more.

Card Check!

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Raised by aristeides (below the fold) yesterday while we were discussing the axing of card check 'voting' the Employee Free Choice Act, even on the left there is legitimate fear of union intimidation because of the public nature of the choice. What has bugged me throughout the entire effort to pass a bill that makes it much easier to organize (in a country where the majority of employees want to be unionized but less than 10% are) is the glaring lack of creative thinking. This creative thinking needs to be applied specifically to features like card check, to establish a compromise that achieves most of the goal of greatly increased unionization (how about a goal of 'all the people who want to be unionized are more or less unionized'?) while addressing the intimidation fear. This is what the Obama administration should've been doing, that's the purpose of a Democratic administration ostensibly) posing both as an intermediary between the demands of labor unions and corporations and a representative of the public interest. (This is what being a Democratic President meant, anyway, in the good old days of Roosevelt through Johnson.) Aren't there, for instance, ways of allowing people to make a choice (or not) for a union privately in this age of the internet and 'voting by mail'? It's 2009 ferchrissake!

Why not, for example, when you reach 3% on cards saying "I'm interested in forming a union," this triggers a 96-hour period when workers are required to vote up or down on the unionization, completely in private either by internet or mail to some NLRB e-mail address? Hey, I'm absolutely no expert, but getting the goals of card check accomplished but without the card and with complete privacy seems very do-able. The lack of creative ideas now is a major social crime. Now don't go all nitpicky on me, instead how about suggest your own better idea?

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The first bill Senator Al Franken co-sponsored after being sworn in yesterday was the Employee Free Choice Act. It's a cause Paul Wellstone would have supported strongly. (Click here for background on the EFCA.)

The Hill reported yesterday,

As expected, Franken has been assigned to the Judiciary Committee, Indian Affairs Committee and Aging Committee. He will also sit on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee once the panel finishes marking up the healthcare reform legislation.

I don't understand the logic of making Franken wait until after the health care bill markup before joining the HELP Committee, but at least he will be there when the Employee Free Choice Act is debated.

Getting to 60 votes on the EFCA will be a challenge, but Senator Tom Harkin has been working on a compromise since March. He told Bloomberg News in May that the "card check" provision may have to be dropped from the EFCA in order to get the bill through the Senate. "Card check" means that workers could form a union if a majority sign a document stating that they would like to join a union. Harkin suggested that a compromise bill might incorporate other changes to the election process and procedures for forming a labor union.

In that interview, Harkin did not mention whether binding arbitration would be a part of a workable compromise. Some people consider binding arbitration provisions to be as important a part of the EFCA as card check.

Whatever compromise Harkin crafts, I'm glad to know that Franken will be a voice for strong labor reform on the HELP Committee. Incidentally, Harkin announced last week that Franken will be the keynote speaker at his annual steak fry in September. I can't wait.

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Cross-posted at BryanBarash.com, where I gather my thoughts on politics and technology

I've been thinking a lot lately about the EFCA, as Congress prepares to debate and news stories fly that labor may be willing to make a concession on the highest profile of the issues contained in EFCA, which is Card Check.  

For those who don't know, Card Check means that if 50% of employees check a card saying they want a union, the business must recognize that and negotiate with them in good faith.  Right now they can organize a union that way, but often companies refuse to recognize the union, which is currently legal.

Continue below the break for my explanation of a possible way forward that protects both workers rights AND the secret ballot.

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Barack Obama promised during his presidential campaign to "finally make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the land."

So why did I read this in today's Washington Post?

The president-elect also gave his support for legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize, but he said there may be other ways to achieve the same goal without angering businesses. And while many Democrats on Capitol Hill are eager to see a quick vote on that bill, he indicated no desire to rush into the contentious issue.

"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 I just mentioned," he said. "Let's see what the legislative docket looks like."

Marc Ambinder has the exact wording of Obama's answer, which the Washington Post paraphrased.

A lot of labor unions backed Obama during the primaries, and even more backed him during the general election campaign. Unions were there for Obama when he needed them. Now, they need him to follow through on his promise.

This diary by TomP lays out the very strong case for passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

Why do we need to dance around looking for some way to help unions without angering businesses? Obama won the election and has high approval ratings. Democrats enlarged their Congressional majorities. Now is the time for the president to spend his political capital on getting good laws through Congress.

Setting the policy merits aside for the moment, this is a poor negotiating strategy.

By announcing before taking office that his goal is to help unions without arousing intense opposition from businesses, Obama has just given the business lobby every incentive to raise hell about even the most innocuous bill to support workers' rights.

He should not have telegraphed that he is willing to sacrifice the Employee Free Choice Act if necessary. You never announce before negotiations begin what concessions you are willing to make. (For more on Obama's negotiating strategy so far, read this diary by bruh3.)

In any event, there isn't going to be some magical bill that would make it significantly easier for workers to organize, but which the business lobby would take in stride. They will fight every bill perceived as pro-labor, and they will claim that it will cost jobs, just like they fought any number of good laws, from minimum wage increases to the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Here's hoping that incoming Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (a passionate supporter of the EFCA) will be able to strengthen Obama's resolve to fight for this bill.

By the way, American Rights at Work just launched a major tv advertising campaign in support of the EFCA and has a petition you can sign if you care about this issue.

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