EFCA stalled: Senate defeats legislation to change process of how employees vote on whether to join a union.

Legislation proposing to change the current policy dictating how employees vote to unionize is stalled, for now. In June, the U.S. Senate blocked a procedural motion that prevented HR 800/S. 1041, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), from becoming law. Senators voted 50 to 48 to defeat this legislation (under Senate rules, 60 voters are required to proceed to consideration of the bill). The vote was along party lines, with the exception of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who voted with the Democrats. The House passed a similar bill in March.

EFCA, as proposed, would undo 70 years of labor law by taking away employees' ability to vote to recognize a union by secret ballot and replacing it with the card-check process, where employees make their choice in front of union organizers and fellow employees who support unionization. The legislation also would have mandated contract terms on private unionized employers through a process of compulsory, binding arbitration, an infringement of private employers' freedom of contract.

Even though the measure has been stopped for now, this issue is certain to come up again in the future. Passage of the EFCA is organized labor's number one priority, and following the Senate vote, Bill Samuel, the legislative director of the AFL-CIO, said the bill is in "the building stage" and a vote on the bill would be considered a victory.

"We will keep coming back year after year after year," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

The metalcasting industry has been advocating against the EFCA and believes that the current system, which allows both card-check and secret ballot elections, is the fairest way to make this determination because it supports the promotion and protection of employee free choice and labor relations stability.