Franken Signs On As EFCA Co-Sponsor

Hours after he was seated, Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, let it be known that he would be sign on as a co-sponsor to the Employee Free Choice Act, the labor-backed provision that would allow unions to more easily organize, as his first legislative activity.

"I just became a cosponsor of my first bill in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act," the Minnesota Democrat declared at a gathering at the AFL-CIO on Tuesday evening.

Despite taking a backseat in terms of media attention, EFCA remains very much a hotly-debated measure within the halls of Congress. And while Franken's vote will likely boost Democratic efforts on health care and judicial nominations (he is poised to sit on the HELP and Judiciary Committees) it could be on labor matters where his voice is most felt. Certainly the union community, which is pushing for a vote on EFCA sometime this year, feels relieved that it is one senator closer to preventing a Republican filibuster on the measure.

Franken, who was officially sworn into office on Tuesday after an eight-month recount, told the AFL-CIO crowd that he shared common interests with them. According to Eddie Vale, a spokesman for the union group, Franken described the long tradition that exist in Minnesota of "having two Senators who are very pro workers and working families."

"He said it was an honor to be sworn in today and walk through the aisles with Mondale and to be sworn in on Paul Wellstone's Bible," Vale recounted. "He stressed that both men were champions of the labor movement."

Comments

[TheAntiNixon]

maybe we can Hope for Change after all....

[mick7191]

Never give up hope. It's only been 6 months.

[deutchs]

Ahhhh!!!! (umping up and down with joy) I'm so happy! Yay, we have a true progressive in the Senate. Well, there are few others also but Al will be a particularly effective one.

[jukesgrrl]

Bless you, Senator Al. And when you're in doubt about anything, just say to yourself "WWBD?" What Would Bernie Do?

[taddles]

Or perhaps WWPD....What Would Paul Do.

[Tulka2]

Congratulations, Senator Franken and thank you for committing to EFCA.

It will be a pleasure to watch you work. One suggestion...? Please counter Senator Grassley. Make it personal. It should be a natural fit what with all those old Minnesota v Iowa jokes.

Grassley represents Corporate Agriculture and the Medical Industrial Complex. His seat is ripe for the picking. Please give him a little nudge. Use your native wit to counterbalance Grassley's "worst of the Midwest" shtick. Iowa is held hostage. Help the as yet anonymous Democrat who will inevitably challenge Grassley by poking the old windbag whenever you see the chance.

[discourse jockey]

YES! Go, Al!!

[weatherwaxx]

It's clear Senator Franken wasn't just sitting around doing nothing while the Minnesota Supremes were deliberating. Go Al!

[DesertDogAlpha]

Show Senator Al the video of unionized coal miners violently breaking up a picnic on the 4th in West Virginia.

GM showed just how good unions are at making things better. EFCA would just lead to more of the same. But Al will dance with who brung him - there will be zero space between him and his union funders.

[weatherwaxx]

Sorry, your comment requires a shovel and hip boots.

Blaming GM's mismanagement on the unions is illustrative of nothing but your ignorance.

[maisnon55]

OMG.......................hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[maisnon55]

mmmmmmmm, I WISH there were no space between me and Al!

[repearwo]

Unions did not bring the downfall of GM on their own. I have to agree that the Union Management death spiral of rising prices and wages did much to create the current debacle, but managements refusal to accept that lower fuel use was inevitable played a huge role all on its own. Plus we have almost two generations of managers and business grads that have no idea how to run a company. They do not know very much about economics, and certainly do not think that they should listen to the people who actually buy cars.

So just right there we can clearly see while the upward pressure on wages was a contributing factor, mismanagement in both production and market assessment were much larger factors.

We need to return to the days of production capitalism rather than viewing business as just being a way to separate the general population from their money.

[TimRivers]

As a former union shop steward and member, I have no real love for unions. Personally, they are just another side of the "big business" coin. That being said, it is ridiculous to blames GM's demise on union workers. I worked for the original Pan Am and we got blamed for Pan Am's demise but truth be told, management had no clue how to run an airline! Sure, there were abuses by the unionized workforce but those paled in comparison to the outright ineptitude of management in actually running the airline. Most of them couldn't make a decision if their lives depended on it and quite often made decisions based on flawed, incomplete or taken-out-of-context data rather than actual facts.

I suspect that things are the same at GM - some abuses by labor and TONS of idiocy and abuse by management but its easier to blame the workers for management's ineptitude.

[Johnagain]

Thank God there is another Senator who gives a d@mn about the little guy.

[funkalicious]

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[funkalicious]

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I
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where con=Bankers tributions=Moneys

[hapiday]

Good for you Franken. We need some need blood in there working for the people.

[Adartist777]

Congratulations to Senator Franken. I think he'll do a great job and I also believe he'll fight for Minnesotan's working rights.

As far as the card check, this is needed. As previously stated, private elections for a union are used and abused by corporations to extend the process of creating a union. Private elections give corporations more time to intimidate, harass and terminate employees in "right to work" states. Card check would let contract negotiations begin almost immediately. And if an agreement is not reached in reasonable time, then a negotiator from the labor department would step in to settle the matter between the union and the corporate entity.

[Weirdwriter]

Thankfully, we don't often hear the Republicans using that nonsecret ballot scare tactic these days. Word must have finally gotten out about that particular paper tiger.

[werlsnpa]

Thanks Al for stepping up to the plate and approving the Employee Free choice Act. I glad you are on the side of the working people. Thanks for stepping up and showing voter you are not afraid to represent workers.

[Bjarni]

Well, he used to be a Union Member in the Screen Actors Guild. Not surprising that he'll support Union forming.

[Johnagain]

And that is a good thing. Why is it that so many who would benefit from being in a union are so knee jerk in their opposition to them? Why do you hate yourselves so much?

[weatherwaxx]

SAG? So was Ronald Reagan and I prsume Ah-nold is still a member. Neither of them was any great shakes as an actor, either.

Al Franken has a relevant degree from Harvard. And before you go into the 'clown' routine, Ben Franklin was a humorist as well as a great leader. Politics is easy, compared to comedy.

[llisa]

Good. I hope this puts the laggards to shame so they will stop worrying about their political careers and man up to do what's right for the citizens of this country.