EFCA To Be Taken Up By Senate By This Summer
In the past few days, U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader in the Senate, has given public assurances to organized labor that the Senate will get to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) no later than this summer.
As discussed in prior blog posts, EFCA is proposed federal legislation that would radically change long-standing labor laws. Most significantly, EFCA would make it much easier for labor unions to organize employers by eliminating the traditional requirement of a secret-ballot election to determine whether a union is favored by a majority of employees. Organized labor has repeatedly proclaimed that enactment of EFCA is its top priority for 2009 and views this legislation as the required "pay back" for its support of Democrat candidates in 2008. The Senate is considered the key battleground for EFCA because the House of Representatives has previously passed the Act. President Obama co-sponsored this legislation as a U.S. Senator and has publicly vowed to make passage of EFCA a priority in his Administration. The primary obstacle to passage of EFCA appears to be whether Senator Reid and other Democrats can muster the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster in the Senate. In his first public pronouncement since President Obama's inauguration, Senator Reid called EFCA an "important piece of legislation" and promised that the Senate would "get to it by sometime this summer."
As a reminder, to help employers prepare for this new legislation, CDF will be conducting workshops in each of our five California offices during the week of February 2-6, 2009, to aid pro-active employers who want to be prepared for the potential impact of EFCA. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops, click here for our more detailed brochure and the registration form. Spots still remain for all five sessions.