Specter, Feinstein & EFCA

Senator Arlen Specter’s recent backtracking on his support for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has gotten much publicity and has given rise to some speculation about his motives. He will turn 80 next year and has been in the Senate for a long time—three decades—and has probably reached his life goals. Regardless of what he says, he owes his later-in-life political successes to Reagen’s coalition and his ability to pose as a maverick before Palin and McCain took center stage. With that coalition rather weather-beaten, Specter has no accountability issues with anyone at an advanced age. He gets to do as he pleases without worry.

Republicans may still give him the boot, however. The most credible explanation of his backtracking has to do with him swinging back to the far-right on EFCA in an effort to blunt a challenge from the right in the 2010 elections. Those political forces perceive him as being weak on core Republican values and the Obama administration’s efforts to rescue capitalism. If the Republican challenge is as half-hearted as Specter hopes, and if the Democrats can win with then-ex-Governor Ed Rendell or former Steelers champion Franco Harris on labor or class issues, he then goes down for the count and the Democrats pick up an additional Senate seat. Specter can walk away then without too much angst. It could all be one of those deals agreed to in the halls of power that satisfies everyone except the people who matter most.

EFCA seems to be in worse shape every day. It was a make-it-or-break-it issue in the November elections. Soon after the elections unions realized that the votes weren’t there for easy passage and a few unions continued the press before demobilization and demoralization set in. The right and anti-labor forces sensed blood and ramped up their opposition to EFCA. Opposition came from the usual core forces on the right as well as from the hospitals and Whole Foods, Costco and Starbucks. Some of this opposition carried with it an almost liberal veneer in that it proposed alternatives to EFCA and is managing to change the subject from employer interference in union elections and inequality in the US to the supposed dangers of mass unionization during an economic crisis. Labor’s response has been to move the fight to Pennsylvania, Colorado and Arkansas and to send signals that some union leaders are prepared to compromise on EFCA basics. Specter’s subsequent backtracking and the public fumbling by many Democrats has added implications under these conditions.

Opposition to EFCA from the hospitals comes as SEIU continues its press to organize hospitals nationwide and as two national unions for nurses are forming. The hospitals no doubt see the writing on the wall: these unions will eventually seek to change the composition of the National Labor Relations Board and win Board decisions which make organizing nurses into unions easier. Union membership was up slightly before the onset of the economic crisis and workers are showing increased combativeness.

EFCA would help workers form unions by allowing a majority in a workplace to sign union authorization cards; toughening penalties for employer violations; and requiring arbitration when employers and unions cannot agree on a first contract within 120 days. It’s hard to imagine a compromise on already-pared-down legislation by labor, but US unions are historically cautious and subject to some arm-twisting by Democrats and Democratic administrations. Moreover, the new administration is making other concessions to unions and these may emerge as consolation prizes for labor. The recent call by Obama for additional concessions by the UAW and the transparent illogic of compromising with Republicans on EFCA and later trying to regain ground with working class voters probably threatens to upset the apple cart. Some union leaders maintain that the 60 needed Senators are in place, or can be won over, while also talking about compromises--a bad bargaining and political strategy.

Senator Dianne Feinstein has also backtracked on EFCA, although I do not think that she has publicly stated her opposition to it. Perhaps the news has not fully set in yet, or perhaps liberal forces divide on this one, but I also suspect that some part of the Democrat-Labor establishment saw this coming and will use Feinstein’s backtracking as a means for advancing some last-ditch compromises. Betrayal isn’t betrayal if a needed friend does it. Feinstein has a future that Specter doesn’t and she can’t walk away as easily as he can; rumors are that she will run for Governor. We wonder what line the Democrat-Labor establishment will ever draw in the sand and what they will do when our alleged friends continue to step over it. And does Feinstein think that labor support for Governor either doesn't matter or that it can be taken for granted? Will the establishment challenge this or not? The young people at the Courage Campaign who are publicly opposing Feinstein on her backtracking should have labor’s full support.

Instead we get Karen Ackerman, political director of the AFL-CIO, saying, "We certainly understand that it would be unusual if a bill was passed as it was introduced word for word. There's a lot of discussion yet to take place. We'll see what happens over the next few months." Ackerman voiced her justifiable anger at Specter by saying, “We supported Arlen Specter when he was facing his primary five years ago in 2004. We have 1.5 million union voters in Pennsylvania. In political terms, we don't think this is a very smart move." I hope that she will be more forthright in her criticism and that we can count on union leaders to push or take on Feinstein as well.