Harkin Says Senate Wary of Card Check, Mandatory Arbitration
This story appears in the May 11 print edition of Transport Topics.
Federal legislation to permit so-called card check union registration is running into trouble in the Senate, one of the bill’s co-sponsors said last week.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services subcommittee, told Bloomberg News that the card check provision in the Employee Free Choice Act may have to be removed from the bill because it lacks majority support among Senate Democrats.
Harkin said he is talking with his colleagues opposed to card check to search for a compromise.
“Compromises are going to be made,” Harkin said. “It probably won’t be card check, because too many people are opposed to it now.”
Card check would replace the current system of secret-ballot elections supervised by the National Labor Relations Board for union representation contests, with a count of check-off cards signed by employees in determining whether a union has enough support to represent workers.
Harkin said a possible compromise on labor law could include tougher penalties against employers who harass, intimidate or fire workers trying to organize a union.
Card check is opposed by American Trucking Associations and other business groups ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the National Association of Manufacturers.
Another controversial provision in the proposed act calls for mandatory arbitration if the two sides fail to reach an agreement within approximately 130 days after a union is newly certified.
Supporters of the bill in the House of Representatives have yet to schedule hearings on the legislation. However, Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Committee on Education and Labor, said the card check provision still enjoys majority support in the House.
“We’ll see what the Senate comes up with, and we’ll go from there,” Albright said.
“Harkin’s comments are certainly welcome news,” said Rhonda Bentz, a spokeswoman for the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a group of more than 500 organizations that oppose the legislation. “But there’s still the binding interest arbitration provision, which is equally as harmful as the card check scheme for both small businesses and workers.”
“The fight is definitely not over,” Bentz said.
Some supporters of card check were hopeful that the switch in party affiliation last month by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter to Democrat from Republican would help the provision gain approval in the Senate. But Specter has said the change has not altered his opposition to the bill.
A January study by the Congressional Research Service said that allowing card check may increase the level of unionization, while requiring secret ballot elections has tended to decrease it.
The study, conducted by labor analyst Gerald Mayer, noted that employers argue that under card check certification, “workers may be pressured or coerced into signing authorization cards and may only hear the union’s point of view.”
Unions argue that during an election campaign, employers may pressure or coerce workers into voting against the union, the study said. The study concluded that in Canada, which has al-lowed automatic card check since 1976, the union success rate has been greater than under secret-ballot elections.
