Employee Free Choice Act Expected to Gain Momentum
With the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) became the Chairman of the influential Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on September 10, 2009. Although the HELP committee has spent much time on the topic of health care reform, Washington insiders expect that the HELP committee will soon turn its attention to the Employee Free Choice Act (S. 560) which was introduced on March 10, 2009. In fact, staffers to the HELP committee recently described EFCA as Senator Harkin’s “top priority” with respect to labor legislation on the horizon. Like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other more progressive legislation, EFCA will receive a lot of Congressional attention and may likely pass if the Chairman views the legislation as a “top priority.”