EFCA Watch - Tuesday, December 22, 2009

President Barack Obama owes a lot to the unions. It's no secret that labor spent massively on his behalf during the presidential election last year and directed a tsunami of voters to the polls. Union foot soldiers helped make the difference for him in places like Ohio and other hard-hat-rich swing states. While the president has already moved on several union-friendly initiatives, time is running out on what may be a one-time opportunity to pass a cherished labor goal, the Employee Free Choice Act.

But the president faces a conundrum. To get EFCA passed, he must lean on some of the same politically imperiled moderate Democratic Senators he's pressuring now to approve a health care overhaul- and whose votes may be needed for climate change legislation as well.

By soliciting their support for EFCA, he will expose himself and them to an all-hands-on-deck campaign- teeming with negative ads- from the business community.

Little could be closer to the hearts of union leaders than the "card check" bill, which labor leaders view as an act of simple justice that would also grow their membership by making it easier unionize workplaces. With a Democratic president and Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate, union operatives want a vote ASAP, before the political season heats up. The game is in the Senate, where EFCA backers are probably just a few votes short of the 60 they need to overcome a filibuster.

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