Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. George Miller will hold a press conference today at 12:15 immediately following the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee meeting to announce the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act. There’s speculation regarding the contents of the bill due to the lack of information from cosponsors, but it’s likely to contain the two most critical provisions: card check and mandatory arbitration.
As I note in the current issue of NR, EFCA’s introduction will ignite the biggest legislative battle between labor and business in decades. Labor has been ratcheting up their campaign dramatically over the last few weeks, sending EFCA-related emails and text messages to legions of current and prospective union members. President Obama and Vice President Biden both assured labor leaders in the last few days that EFCA will pass.
Right now, just 7.5% of the private-sector workforce is unionized. Both sides of the debate expect that percentage to rise significantly should EFCA become law.