My friend Earle doesn’t know much about labor law. As he likes to put it, he “works for a living.” He was in a union a decade or so ago. He described the experience as “alright.” Earle is not a real effusive fellow.

I asked Earle the other day what he thought about the Employee Free Choice Act. He had never heard of it. So much for those PR campaigns.

When I told him about the card-check provisions, Earle grinned and shrugged his shoulders. It didn’t seem to trouble him. He didn’t say it, but I suspect that it’s not very easy for anyone – management or union – to intimidate Earle.

But my friend had a different reaction when I told him that under the EFCA, if a company and a union don’t reach agreement within 120 days, the terms would be set by an arbitrator. Earle raised an eyebrow and said: “Then what would you need a union for? Just let the government come in and set up the contract in the first place.”

Why didn’t Tamara Draut think of that?