Specter Raises EFCA Hopes: "Prospects Are Pretty Good"

WASHINGTON — Sen. Arlen Specter said Thursday the "prospects are pretty good" for a compromise on legislation making it easier for workers to form unions.

Specter had come out against the bill in March, disappointing labor leaders. They had hoped he would be the crucial 60th vote needed to overcome an expected GOP filibuster of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Pennsylvania senator has since switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, and he said he's been meeting with labor leaders and fellow senators in hopes of coming up with a compromise he could support.

President Barack Obama also said Thursday that he hoped a compromise could be worked out that would "get enough votes to pass the bill."

A top priority of labor groups, the bill would allow a majority of employees at a work site to form a union by signing cards and would take away the right of employers to demand secret ballot elections. It would impose stiffer penalties on employers who threaten workers who try to organize unions and would provide for government arbitration if management and workers cannot agree on a first contract.

Specter has said he opposes the "card check" and arbitration provisions of the bill. But he does support other union-friendly alternatives such as speeding up the election process and giving unions more access to campaign at work sites.

Specter faces the prospect of a primary challenge from Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., and pro-union groups have placed intense pressure on him to support the bill as a condition of their support.

Randel Johnson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's vice president on labor issues, said business leaders are against negotiating from the card check bill as a starting point "because it's too radical of a place to start."

Comments

[den1953]

09:29 AM on 05/15/2009

This Specter changes more then a model at a fashion show WTF!

[ThePen]

09:11 AM on 05/15/2009

Sometimes I think what gets lost on all this talk about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is that it really is not about workers joining unions, per se, as it is about workers themselves forming their own self-organization on the job in order to engage in collective bargaining with their employer.

Workers do not necessary need to choose to join established unions like SEIU, Teamsters, UFCW, UNITE HERE, for example, in order to be represented on the job. They can form their own organization/association on the job in order to be represented. Why workers end up choosing established unions is mainly because it is the business of unions to organize and represent workes.

The debate and message about EFCA should really be about the fundemental right of the American worker to excercise their freedom of choice on the job in choosing the represenation that will best suit them for matters of collective bargaining.

EFCA is about American workers, period. The American workers are a special interest that represents the best of what America is all about. This fact should not get lost in the debate about EFCA.

[bigfated]

09:05 AM on 05/15/2009

Forget this hypocritical, self-serving bum, Spector the Defector! We need a man like SESTAK for the job. At least he isn't one of the "say NO to everything" crowd. Once the DEMS have seventy or more Senate seats......I'll begin to breathe easier. Let's finally put the nearly defunct GOP to sleep for its final resting place in history as the party that could get NOTHING right! The death of that corrupt party should make the world a better place!

[larry278]

08:07 AM on 05/15/2009

Sen Specter is a politician. Politicians negotiate. Politicians sometimes change positions in response to the concerns of voters.

[roshni]

07:43 AM on 05/15/2009

Thanks Rabbis and people who are pressuring Specter. EFCA is not negotiable!

[weatherwaxx]

12:40 AM on 05/15/2009

I guess the Attack of the Scolding Rabbis had a salutary effect on ol' Arlen.

[truthglow]

11:43 PM on 05/14/2009

We're still voting for Joe Sestak, you spineless dummy!

[roshni]

07:43 AM on 05/15/2009

We are too.

[Tommygun264]

10:19 PM on 05/14/2009

Like I have always said, Arlen never forgets which side his bread is buttered on.

[Rosewren]

09:29 PM on 05/14/2009

Man has no principles. Will say anything to get elected.

[swo68]

12:47 AM on 05/15/2009

Perfect for the Dems. He's a patsy who can be controlled.

[Haditup2here]

08:43 PM on 05/14/2009

Doesn't matter. . . . you're still going to have that primary.

[Xylem44]

07:27 PM on 05/14/2009

I bet they are...

[Budokan]

05:35 PM on 05/14/2009

Run Sestak and be done once and for all with this rachitic mummy.

[roshni]

07:43 AM on 05/15/2009

Stay tuned. Sestak is going to run and we are going to support him.

[hegdehog]

05:33 PM on 05/14/2009

This is classic Specter. He's the ventriloquist and the dummy at the same time.

[GeorgeP922]

06:04 PM on 05/14/2009

I hope noone uses the word "Demo" and frightens you.

Dictionaries and college are your friend!

[brandalucia]

05:17 PM on 05/14/2009

It's so refreshing to see the BACK of this Spector guy leaving the GOP. We never wanted him since he was a closet liberal and we all knew it. He expects the good people of PA to bend over and take his words as truth. HA...ain't gonna happen Arrrrrrrrlen.

[1differentdrummer]

05:24 PM on 05/14/2009

Who is "Spector?"

[jesthefaxman]

10:27 PM on 05/14/2009

James Bond villian...or was it spectre

[305Rider]

05:24 PM on 05/14/2009

If you guys didn't want Specter, why did you keep re-electing him?

[Citizen-Jane]

05:06 PM on 05/14/2009

Specter must've seen the latest poll #'s from his state. Even if he excepts this "compromise" can the democrats from the state of Pennsylvania depend on Arlen to be anything other than an opportunist.?

Evan Bayh, Bill Nelson, and Joe Lieberman are shakey enough as it is. Right now I hoping that Mr. Setak goes to Washington.

[305Rider]

05:24 PM on 05/14/2009

Sestak is already in Washington.