Is it dead or alive?  While those opposed to Card Check have begun to make inroads, those inroads should not be taken as a “victory” sign.  Too much can change too quickly in Washington to presume this issue is “done for the year”.   Some of us will be using the May trip to Washington, DC to continue to impress upon members of the NY delegation the incredible strain Card Check would put on businesses in NYS.  Keep up the pressure and keep up the talk …..it’s having an impact and now is not the time to call it quits! 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124035645604940949.html#printMode

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21509.html

The Business Council of New York State and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are asking you to speak out now and place a call to your Senator to say no to “Card Check”.

Or if you would like to make your voice heard in person the Chamber Alliance of New York State is hosting an event in Washington that includes a rally on Capitol Hill. For more information about this event click here.

The Denver Business Journal reports - “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Monday it’s launching a $1 million television ad campaign in Colorado and four other states to oppose “card check” legislation in Congress that would change the rules for workers to unionize…

The U.S. Chamber’s ads opposing the “Employee Free Choice Act” also are running in Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Virginia. Meanwhile, radio spots are running in Alaska and South Dakota.

The bill would allow workers to form a union local at their workplace if a majority signs union-authorization card, sidestepping the existing requirement that a secret-ballot election also be held.”

Crunch Time on “Card Check”

The Business Council of New York State and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are asking you to speak out now and send a message to your Senator to say no to “Card Check”.

The next 10 days may determine if Big Labor’s “Card Check” bill becomes a reality.

While members of Congress are back in their districts for a two-week recess, the Unions have fired up an all-out lobbying blitz designed to pressure legislators into supporting their dangerous, anti-jobs bill. We believe that now is also the time for business to send a message to law makers telling them to reject “Card Check”.

That’s why your U.S. Senators need to hear from Americans like you today!

Labor targets Wall Street in ‘card-check’ fight

TheHill.com reports – “A new ad from organized labor targets Wall Street in calling on Congress to move the controversial card-check bill.

American Rights at Work (ARAW), a labor advocacy group affiliated with several unions, plans a nationwide buy for the ad to play on cable television across the country. It will begin during the two-week congressional recess now under way.

The ad targets financial companies that have asked for government bailouts for lobbying against the card-check bill, which would make it easier to form unions. The ad does not specify which financial firms have lobbied against the bill.
“It’s the Wall Street way of doing business,” the ad says. “It’s time the economy worked for everyone again.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

To tell you Senator to vote no on “Card Check” click here.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) on Monday became the first Senate Democrat to oppose the card-check bill heavily backed by unions, The Hill reports. In a statement, Lincoln pledged to vote against legislation formally known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would allow workers to organize into unions more easily. She said she could not vote for the bill in its current form.

Unions keep up the pressure during Congressional Break with new ad campaigns and efforts to get to members in their district offices:  http://www.changetowin.org/for-the-media/press-releases-and-statements/nationwide-ad-and-grassroots-actions-intensify-campaign-for-the-employee-free-choice-act.html

Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council,  will lead a group of  New York businesses at the US Chamber’s Business Summit in Washington, DC May 11-12 which will culminate in a “Rally on the Hill” against Card Check. In addition to content on a variety of business issues (health care/insurance reform; transportation reauthorization) the issue of Card Check will be front and center. Don’t lose the opportunity to have your members join with businesses from around the country in showing a collective voice on Card Check. For more details on the agenda and how to participate, click here.

The following appeared today on the Wall Street Journal’s on-line opinion page. -”If anyone were still in doubt as to the importance of a Senate filibuster, we’d point them to Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter’s announcement yesterday that he will not support “card check.” Maybe Big Labor won’t be able to up-end the economy, after all.

Mr. Specter’s decision means Republicans now have 41 votes against “card check” — legislation that would do away with secret ballots in union organization elections. The Pennsylvanian was the only Senate Republican to have previously voted in favor of a debate on the bill, and as such had been the target of a furious lobbying fight by unions and the business community. Yet to be seen is whether Mr. Specter’s decision will inspire any number of swing state Democrats to follow his lead, and thereby neutralize an issue for which they are getting pilloried by their home-state business communities.”

To read the rest of the posting click here.

The Washington Post reports - “As business and labor gird for battle over legislation that would make it easier for workers to organize, the debate could be transformed by a “third way” proposed by three companies that like to project a progressive image: Costco, Starbucks and Whole Foods. 

Like other businesses, the three companies are opposed to two of the Employee Free Choice Act’s components — a provision that would allow workers to form a union if a majority sign pro-union cards, without having to hold a secret-ballot election, and one that would impose binding arbitration when employers and unions fail to reach a contract after 120 days.

But the companies’ chief executive officers say they also recognize that just opposing the legislation, commonly called “card check,” is not enough because of the widespread perception in Democrat-dominated Washington that there is not a level playing field between labor and business. So the CEOs have come up with ideas they hope will form the basis of new legislation.

Their proposal would maintain management’s right to demand a secret-ballot election and would leave out binding arbitration. The proposal would keep the third main element of card check — toughening the penalties for companies that retaliate against workers before union elections or refuse to engage in collective bargaining. But it would also toughen penalties for union violations, and it would make it easier for businesses to call elections to try to decertify a union.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

A bill has been introduced among much fanfare on both sides. The language in the bill is the same as the version that passed the House in 2007 but stalled in the Senate eight votes shy of the necessary 60. The bill has 40 sponsors in the Senate; 18 Democrat Senators are not cosponsors of the bill - primarily from the South and Midwest/West including CO; MT, WI; MO; ND; UT: VA; LA. I found it interesting that Senator Feinstein (CA) is not a cosponsor.

House Member Miller’s Committee page announcement on Card Check introduction:  http://edlabor.house.gov/employee-free-choice-act-efca/index.shtml

Some media reports on the bill:

NPR March 11, which speaks to the cost impact this bill could have and refers to a downgrading of WalMart’s rating on a stock traders comments re: card check:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101677322

 NPR March 10, on the release of the bill and the ‘staging of the battle’:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101669773http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/business/11labor.html?_r=1&ref=business

So Long, Secret Ballot

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03152009/postopinion/editorials/so_long__secret_ballots__159687.htm

Politico.Com is reporting that tomorrow starts the Card Check Battle:  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19786.html

It’s clear the battle will be waged in the Senate first and a handful of Democrats will be the focus of much intense lobbying.

Opinion column in today’s Buffalo News, specifically mentioning two of NY’s Western NY congressional delegation’s support for the bill and speaking to the troubling binding arbitration section of the bill:http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/609049.html

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