USA Today: Beside the economy, other major issues await Obama

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2008-11-05-obama-will-face-major-issues_N.htm?csp=34

Repairing the economy may be President-elect Obama's biggest priority when he takes office, but other domestic issues will be competing for attention from the Obama administration and the next Congress.

Here are five.

ENERGY | Health care | Labor | Technology | Agriculture

Economy may slow proposed investment in renewables

Obama has advocated a dramatic makeover of the nation's energy infrastructure, calling for huge investments in renewable energy and hefty penalties for oil companies and utilities that emit global-warming gases.


snip: Unionization rules, raising minimum wage on the horizon

The economy. The markets' meltdown. Taxes. Energy. They all got more attention in the campaign than labor policy.

But make no mistake, organized labor spent hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of Obama and other Democratic candidates with one clear goal: passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure that is likely to come up early in the new Congress.

Currently, union representation elections must be held when 30% of a group of workers at a company sign cards calling for a vote.

The EFCA would change that. Once 50% of the relevant workers sign cards, their work group would be unionized. Secret ballot votes no longer would be necessary.

Union leaders see EFCA as the key to reversing their decades-long decline in membership and influence. "It will be the most important update to our outdated labor laws since the 1930s. There's no question about that," says Josh Goldstein, spokesman for the labor-backed American Rights at Work advocacy group.

But James Sherk, a labor policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, says EFCA would "spread unionization to industries such as retail," where unions are rare.

FULL story at link.

1.7 million
The number of workers earning the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour, which is scheduled to rise to $7.25 next July.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics