Saturday, May 9, 2009

(UPDATED) Feinstein, Specter compromises may pave the way for passage of Employee Free Choice Act

UPDATE: Skepticism is showing up in a DailyKos recommended diary today about how good this deal really is.

(h/t GrassrootsPA) Jane Hamsher says at Huffington Post:

New compromise measures supported by Dianne Feinstein and Arlen Specter may pave the way for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
With 900,000 union members in the state of Pennsylvania, the Arlen Specter firewall appears to be crumbling. He knows he can't win a Democratic primary in Pennsylvania without labor, and they have made it clear that their support is contingent on his vote on Employee Free Choice.

... As Harkin says, the Feinstein compromise has the advantage of "protecting the secret ballot, so people can do it in private," which neutralizes that particular right-wing criticism of the bill.
The other bone of contention has been arbitration clause of the Employee Free Choice Act. Specter himself supports "last best offer" arbitration. It's also called "baseball arbitration," and has incentives to get both parties to quickly make their best, most reasonable offer. Bill Samuel of the AFL-CIO says "we're open to that."

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