WSJ: Odds of a Vote Dim for Card-Check Bill

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124900561555395901.html

Chances that Congress will vote on a union-organizing bill this year are dimming as lawmakers make health care and appropriations the top priorities.

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While attempts at a compromise have made headway, less progress has been made on the bill's other divisive element: imposing a government-appointed arbitrator to set contract terms -- including wages and benefits -- if companies and newly formed unions can't agree within 120 days of bargaining. The legislation, known as Employee Free Choice Act, also would increase penalties on employers that violate labor laws during organizing periods.

Further complicating the bill's chances this year are the serious illnesses of Sens. Edward Kennedy and Robert Byrd -- both strong labor supporters -- and doubts about whether the two would physically be able to attend a floor vote. Democrats would need both of them to marshal the 60 votes required to thwart a likely Republican-led filibuster.

"They don't have the votes without those two guys coming to the floor at this point," said a person familiar with Democratic leaders' thinking.

Peter Francia, a labor and politics expert at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., said, "Without 60 votes, EFCA will not move forward and is likely to face delays into 2010."

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Business groups are still bracing for the remote possibility that Democrats will reach a compromise and try to quickly push it through the Senate, giving opponents little time to mount an opposition.

"Our grass-roots is ready to move at a moment's notice," said labor-policy specialist Randel Johnson of the :puke: U.S. Chamber of Commerce. :puke:

The :puke: National Right to Work Committee,:puke: which opposes the bill, is launching ads this week in Virginia advising voters to tell the state's two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Jim Webb, to vote against it or any compromise version.

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