thetruthaboutefca.com | The Truth About The Employee Free Choice Act & Card Check

Despite the steady stream of bills coming out of Washington, D.C. — think: cap and trade, health care, “green jobs” — card check and the Employee Free Choice Act continue as a core concern for politicians.

Card check continues as an issue in Virginia, with the state’s Republican Party candidate Bob McDonnell saying:

“Some of the policies that this Congress has pursued and supported by the president like cap and trade and card check and tax increases and intrusions on the free enterprise system and deficit spending, I’ve made those issues in the race and I think Virginians are not enamored with those policies,” he said. “I don’t think they’re good for Virginia….I think that is making a difference in the race.”

And in Florida:

Hoping to capitalize on President Barack Obama’s declining popularity in Florida, Republican governor candidate Bill McCollum is trying to tie his Democratic opponent, Alex Sink, to Obama and national issues pushed by Democrats.

McCollum, the state attorney general, has pressed Sink to take stands on whether a national health care reform plan should include a public option, and on the “card-check” proposal now in Congress that would make it easier for workers to organize unions.

Coloradans don’t like the Employee Free Choice Act — not one bit. That’s the takeaway from a new poll conducted over two weeks in October. But the poll went beyond EFCA as it is written right now, which includes binding interest arbitration and card check, to investigate opinion on potential changes to the bill.

Here are some interesting findings that ought to inform legislators:

A majority of respondents said they favored some clauses that could be added to the bill, such as a provision applying the same increased penalties to union organizers who break workplace unionization rules as are currently applied to companies breaking such rules in the proposed bill, according to results.

But majorities of more than 70 percent opposed other potential additions to the bill, such as a ban on employer meetings to discuss unionization or a requirement that unions be allowed into the workplace to conduct organizing campaigns. Seventy-four percent of Colorado respondents opposed the card-check provision at the center of the bill, the survey said.

The final toll: people only want EFCA if it is not at all EFCA. They want it to be fair and penalize bad behavior, but not enact a per se penalty on employer speech. And, of course, card check is still a massive loser.

Michael Moynihan from Reason has a quick post on Major League Baseball’s players union running a newspaper ad pushing the Employee Free Choice Act.

You mean the guys pushing a bill that raises fears of using intimidation to push union drives have turned to guys wielding giant bats? We label this one a swing and a miss.

Associated Builders and Contractors and the Free Enterprise Alliance are happy to release a simple, explanatory, and entertaining video explaining the problems with the Employee Free Choice Act.

It’s not just Virginia’s gubernatorial race that is considering key issues related to workplace flexibility — now card check and the state’s right-to-work law are making their presence a key fight in the race for attorney general.

The News-Virginian points out the positions of Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Steve Shannon:

Cuccinelli said Shannon is focusing on one part of the job. Cuccinelli fully expects constitutional challenges if elected, including the threat of federal card-check legislation to Virginia

The Loudon County Libertarian Examiner takes a look at Virginia’s gubernatorial hopefuls as the close race comes down toward the finish line. For political junkies, the race has been fascinating because Republican Bob McDonnell has focused heavily on fighting unpopular, costly national policy issues such as cap and trade and, yes, the Employee Free Choice Act’s card check provision, while Democrat Creigh Deeds has largely been silent on the latter.

So how is that playing in Virginia? Well, a sample of one is not scientific, but the Examiner does offer one perspective in the contrast between candidates.

Of McDonnell:

He is a staunch proponent for free-enterprise, and has vowed to fight the Federal Estate Tax (loathingly referred to as the “Death Tax”) as well as proposed “Card Check” legislation at all levels.

Of Deeds:

Deeds, who has been the recipient of large amounts of money from labor, favors “Card-Check” legislation, though it should be mention that apart from applying some political pressure and influence, neither man can do anything at the federal level about this law.

It’s good that the McDonnell campaign has focused on card check — it’s a potential job-killer that would threaten the state’s economy, which has been lauded by CNBC as the nation’s best environment for business.