Reply #5: Interesting compromise. [View All]

[backscatter712]

Linkage:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/feinstein-specter-comprom_b_200427.html

It's not all that I would like, although it's better than nothing, and it's likely to get Specter and the Conservadems on board.

If my understanding is correct, the card-check provision of EFCA will be replaced, along with the old employer-mandated screw-the-worker secret-ballot elections, with a streamlined mail-in-ballot election that would slam the door on the secret-ballot criticisms, and hopefully leave less room for anti-union shenanigans (though I'm not entirely convinced this is enough.) It takes the election out of the hands of the employer and lets workers cast their votes from home, directly to the NLRB. At the same time, it alters the arbitration provisions of EFCA to something Specter would vote for (not a big deal, but we have to have some sort of arbitration with a fixed end, so employers can't screw unions by filibustering the negotiation process.)

Hopefully, the other, less-known provisions, but also important parts of EFCA will be unaltered, such as the provisions that increase the penalties for illegally intimidating and firing workers for being pro-union - the penalties were a joke before, with EFCA, it'll cost a company triple the employee's yearly wages for firing him illegally.

All in all, I want more, but if this gets 60 votes, I'll take it.