By Bryan O’Keefe

While it has faded from the limelight lately, labor unions have certainly not forgotten the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act for their larger agenda. As the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, the AFL-CIO held a major labor summit this past week in Washington, bringing together over 200 labor leaders from 63 countries to “discuss ways to reverse the decline in union ranks.” Following an earlier pattern, the conference featured a heavy dose of attacking US labor laws and secret ballot elections as insufficient and claiming that EFCA is necessary to stem the tide. The story also mentioned that labor leaders would be returning back to Capitol Hill to lobby again for EFCA passage.

It is clear that, even though it is not on the front pages, EFCA still remains the top priority for organized labor. Just how much they will push the issue though in 2008 remains to be seen. All of the major Democratic presidential candidates have signed on to the legislation, which is certainly an accomplishment for labor’s lobbyists. And labor of course wants to keep the issue alive in case Democrats do control both the White House and Congress next fall.

But there is also the risk that making EFCA a big issue could actually backfire, especially if more people discover what the bill would actually do. Americans tend to like elections and secret ballots and most people do not appreciate being pressured into joining a union. From what we know about the legislation and how card checks operate, it seems that EFCA opponents could make a very plausible case against the bill on these grounds and paint it as nothing more than a special interest power grab. A decent argument can be made that independents and swing voters would appear to be particularly suspicious of a union inspired bill that would fundamentally change their workplace.

Winning elections usually involves a mixture of keeping your strongest supporters happy while at the same time appealing to Independents and swing voters. It will be interesting to see how EFCA impacts this delicate balancing act in 2008.

Bryan O’Keefe is a labor policy consultant in Washington, DC and a frequent contributor to Workplacehorizons.com and EFCAUpdates.com.