Heinous Card Check Suddenly Gets Popular

Monday, January 11th, 2010 by Admin

That must be the explanation for AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka’s proclamation today at the National Press Club that “I think you’ll see the Employee Free Choice Act pass in the first quarter of 2010.”

Wait, What’s that?, you say. Card check is wildly unpopular and an increasing number of politicians know it. Too true! Which makes this statement seem more of a last-gasp hope than reality. Will the AFL-CIO’s top executives and their allies push EFCA with everything they have? You bet. Will they cajole, twist arms, make threats? You can make your own bet.

But however you bet on those issues, there’s a sure thing: Trumka’s off-base when he says of EFCA that “You’ll have it have some real effect. We’ll start creating and making new jobs in this country again.”

As legendary college football announcer Keith Jackson would say, Whoa Nellie! Card check has been estimated to kill anywhere from 600,000 to 5 million jobs. Even if one wanted to quibble with that estimate, there’s really no economically sensible argument for claiming that EFCA or EFCA II or EFCA Lite or EFCA: The Grand Compromise (On Workers Rights) would actually create jobs. It would make it more expensive to hire employees, making it less likely an employer would do so.

Of course, avid followers will know that labor allies are urging passage of EFCA to “energize the union apparatus.” Nothing more.

No, card check didn’t suddenly get more popular. And it didn’t suddenly start creating jobs. And we didn’t even need a press conference to tell you that.

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