employee free choice act

Cross-posted from an article by Chris Kromm on Facing South

When Glenn Beck decided to hold his "Restoring Honor" rally last week at the very site in Washington, D.C. where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, the Fox commentator's dubious attempt to draw parallels between his right-wing agenda and King's quite different vision was blasted by civil rights veterans.

North Carolinians have been warning out of state folks for months that Cal Cunningham isn’t the progressive savior his DC-run campaign would claim. Never has that been more obvious than today when he flip-flopped on EFCA.

AP - http://www.wlos.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.nc/3e9e54c7-www.wlos.com.shtml

Cal Cunningham said in an interview with The Associated Press that he supports elections as the sole way for there to be unions created, but opposed so-called "card check" organizing. He clarified in a later interview that he would be open to hearing arguments about "card check" but felt it could not pass. The labor-backed idea would allow workers to form a union by signing cards instead of by secret ballot.

He's got to find some use for them.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) passed the House last session with all but two Democrats voting in favor. Of course, the bill never stood a chance getting through the Senate or being signed into law by Bush. But now that the Senate may actually have the votes and the President in office is an original co-sponsor of the bill, there are some strange grumblings coming from the moderate section of Democrats in the House.

So, did Blue Dogs vote for EFCA last session knowing it wouldn't make it into law or do they believe in the legislation? Were they pandering to the left then or are they pandering to the right now?

I recently became chair of the Young Democrats of NC Labor Caucus. In that position, I went to the recent event held by Richard Burr and Americans for Prosperity where they attacked unions and declared that the “secret ballot” was under attack. I went to their event, and called them on their lies, and was rewarded with a few interviews. Now the Republicans are after me, and attacking the press for “not investigating” my statements.

Because Brent Woodcox does not allow comments on his blog, I am forced to respond here. I hope that he comes by for an actual debate.

Wow.

Yesterday, an Art Pope funded corporate shill group called Americans for Prosperity, that once claimed raising the minimum wage would actually hurt American workers, gave Richard Burr, a man who has made a career out of shortchanging American workers, an award “In Defense of the American Worker.”

Just typing that sentence almost made my head explode. But it gets worse.