I posted an item early this morning from the New York Times that reported a compromise in the works — Sen. Mark Pryor on the negotiating team — on the Employee Free Choice Act. The business-hated card check union authorization provisions would be gone, but some other elements to restore balance to negotiations would remain.
Here are some interesting thoughts from a labor lawyer writing to Talking Points Memo. Was card check a stalking horse? Were unions prepared to drop it all along to win binding arbitration and a shorter time period before union elections? Were they willing to do this because, though card check seemed to scare the bejeesus out of business, the record showed that it had been ineffective as a union organizing tool?
Funny thoughts. Hilarious, even, if the unions win a strong piece of compromise legislation. But first you can expect the same sort of end-of-the-world advertising on binding arbitration that you saw on card check. My position is the same as it has been from the first. Business doesn’t intend to give labor ANYTHING.