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Card Checks Dropped From Card-Check Bill
Senate Dems ditch pro-labor bill's most controversial provision
By Rob Quinn
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Posted Jul 17, 09 7:33 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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The so-called "card-check" bill no longer includes its namesake card checks. Labor-friendly Democratic senators have agreed to ditch a central part of the union-organizing measure to ensure its passage, the New York Times reports. The controversial provision would have required employers to recognize a union when a majority of workers simply signed forms saying they wanted to join. Businesses lobbied hard against it, and moderate Dems threatened to bolt.
The revised Employee Free Choice Act will still require faster voting on unionization, a move labor leaders say will give companies less time to intimidate workers before ballots are cast. Union leaders, who lobbied hard for card check, say the revised bill still achieves many of the labor movement's main goals. "Even if card check is jettisoned to political realities, I don’t think people should be despondent over that because labor law reform can take different shapes," says one top union official.