Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LABOR:

Past friends of card check still weighing bill

0303Labor

Leila Navidi

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., right, has not yet signed on to the Employee Free Choice Act. “I get a lot of business support, and I need to let them know why I’m going to sign on to it at the appropriate time, and I’m not there yet,” she said.

Sun Blogs

Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley would seem to be a reliable vote for labor’s top issue in Congress — a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize under the card check system used at most of the unionized casinos on the Strip.

Berkley has seen card check as it is applied in Las Vegas and she signed on in 2007 as an original co-sponsor of the bill that passed in the House. But as the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act heats up as labor’s top priority, Berkley has yet to offer her support.

Why?

“That’s a good question,” Berkley said recently in discussing a bill vigorously opposed by business. “I’m not comfortable enough to sign on to it yet. I suspect that I will. I’m just not there yet.”

The Employee Free Choice Act would provide perhaps the biggest shake-up of the labor landscape in decades, allowing employees to substantially change the way they decide on union representation.

The bill would allow workers in each workplace to decide how they will express a preference for or against a union. Workers could decide to require a secret ballot, or to have employees simply sign a card of support, reverting to a method used before Congress changed the law six decades ago to require secret ballots.

Business groups say the secret ballot is the fairest way for workers to decide and argue that the card check system allows union advocates to exert pressure on workers to organize.

Labor argues that the secret ballot enables management to manipulate the system, dragging out the election process and using the time to intimidate workers.

The same legislation died in Congress two years ago, with Democrats holding narrower advantages in Congress and Republican President George W. Bush in the White House. But now, with expanded Democratic majorities and Barack Obama as president, the legislation has its best chance yet of becoming law.

Opponents of the bill, however, say Democrats are not in full agreement this time because the bill actually has a chance of passing, which means their votes could make a difference.

“When it stands a real chance of becoming law, you have to think about it again,” one Senate Republican aide said.

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, who supported card check on the campaign trail in Henderson, has also not yet signed her name to the legislation.

Today, Berkley and Titus will be visited by members of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, who are lobbying on the Hill this week. Chamber spokeswoman Cara Roberts calls the Employee Free Choice Act “probably the most dangerous legislation for business that’s out there.”

“I think we’ll have some meaningful conversations,” Roberts said. “Hopefully get the message across that this is a jobs killer.”

The issue is shaping up as an enormous controversy. Both sides are pouring tens of millions of dollars into lobbying.

A pro-card check group ran a full-page ad last week in The Washington Post with prominent economists supporting the bill, including Nobel laureates.

Republican opponents in Congress introduced an alternative bill last week to uphold secret ballot elections.

Berkley said she is waiting because she wants to take time to listen to her supporters on both sides of the issue. “I get a lot of business support, and I need to let them know why I’m going to sign on to it at the appropriate time, and I’m just not there yet,” Berkley said.

Titus spokesman Andrew Stoddard said the congresswoman supports the concept of the bill, but “feels it’s her responsibility to hear from all stakeholders involved in the debate before making a decision.

“This is an important issue and there are strong feelings on both sides,” he said.

Berkley compared the debate to the battle two years ago over raising the minimum wage — an idea business initially opposed but eventually supported after business tax breaks were added. She’s hopeful the business community will similarly find a way to improve this bill to its liking.

She said that at the moment, the argument is: “If you don’t support this, the world is going to come to an end. If you do support this, the world is going to come to an end.

“The world is not going to come to an end,” she said. “But let’s figure out how we make this work for everybody. We’re not there yet.”

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy