“I just became a co-sponsor of my first bill in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act.”

-Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)

to the AFL-CIO on July 7, 2009

State of Play

o Supporters of the jobs-killing Employee FORCED Choice Act welcomed the news that newly seated Senator Franken (D-MN) expressed his support for legislation by becoming a co-sponsor hours after being sworn in as a Senator.

o While this development does add another Senator in support of the bill, there is still strong bipartisan opposition in the Senate.

o A small group of Senators continue efforts to develop a variation of the EFCA that could gain the 60 votes necessary to move the bill forward in the Senate. While these meetings are still occurring behind closed doors, the threat of an alternative version of the EFCA still remains quite real. As The New York Times highlights this morning, union leaders may be willing to accept removing the “card check” provision of the EFCA in exchange for “ambush elections”. While the negotiating teams have yet to reach consensus on a final proposal, they are committed to putting forward a variation of the EFCA.

o The Senate’s increasingly crowded schedule -- with Supreme Court confirmation hearings and debate on health care reform -- makes it less likely that the EFCA will move forward before the August recess. However, it is very likely that efforts to move the bill will occur quickly after the Senate returns to Washington in September. It’s vital that manufacturers continue to urge members of Congress to oppose the EFCA in any form.

o Earlier this week labor union leaders met with President Obama to discuss health care issues and the EFCA. This meeting re-affirmed labor bosses’ commitment to passing the EFCA while also focusing on health care reform. However, with health care reform being a top domestic priority for President Obama, justifying jobs-killing legislation, especially at a time when our economy is approaching double-digit unemployment, has proved challenging.

o Press reports claim that President Obama remains committed to the bill’s passage, despite not calling for quick Congressional action.

Action Requested & NAM Resources

Please click here to send a message to your member of Congress about the new developments.

o Recent public opinion data demonstrate that Americans do not want the government to have the ability to force mandatory labor contracts on small businesses and employees. This Rasmussen poll performed in early July shows 56 percent oppose the EFCA’s binding interest arbitration provision, compared to just 21 percent who support its concept. To get talking points, polling data and other information to discuss this issue with members of Congress, please visit the NAM's EFCA Toolkit.

o Several NAM member companies have expressed their opposition to the EFCA by submitting opinion editorials to their local newspapers. These pieces send a message to Members of Congress that we cannot “compromise” on a proposal that is based on the principles of such fundamentally flawed legislation as the EFCA. If your company is interested participating in this effort, the NAM has a resource center to assist you. To engage, please contact Keith Smith at (202) 637-3045 or ksmith@nam.org.

o Prior to the Independence Day recess, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which the NAM helps direct, released a short web ad aimed at highlighting the EFCA’s poisonous impact to our economy. To view the ad, click here.

o For real-time developments on the EFCA, reports from Capitol Hill and other information on related labor legislation, NAM members can visit the NAM's Labor Policy Institute (LPI) at www.namlaborpolicyinstitute.org. Thousands of NAM members access this site for updates throughout the day.

Posted: July 20, 2009