Marathon Pundit: Dems drop card check from Employee FORCED Choice Act

The New York Times has some some news about the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act, which should be called the Employee FORCED Choice Act:

A half-dozen senators friendly to labor have decided to drop a central provision of a bill that would have made it easier to organize workers.

The so-called card-check provision — which senators decided to scrap to help secure a filibuster-proof 60 votes — would have required employers to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed cards saying they wanted a union. Currently, employers can insist on a secret-ballot election, a higher hurdle for unions.

The abandonment of card check was another example of the power of moderate Democrats to constrain their party’s more liberal legislative efforts. Though the Democrats have a 60-40 vote advantage in the Senate, and President Obama supports the measure, several moderate Democrats opposed the card-check provision as undemocratic.

In its place, several Senate and labor officials said, the revised bill would require shorter unionization campaigns and faster elections.

However, during a bloggers' conference call last week, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) had this to say about then-speculated EFCA compromises:

I want to be very clear on this point. There cannot be a compromise when it comes to "card check" and mandatory arbitration. The stakes are simply too high for workers, for small businesses and for our economic recovery.