Uh oh — more bad news for the Employee Free Choice Act. Dem Senator Mark Warner, who had appeared set to cast a key vote for the measure, is now noncommittal and won’t say yet which way he’s voting.
As I noted here recently, Warner has been sending constituents a letter that appears to say he’s decided to vote to bring the bill to the floor. This is a reference to the earlier, procedural “cloture” vote that requires 60 Senators to get past the GOP filibuster — the major hurdle for EFCA backers.
In that letter, Warner said that “EFCA should be debated and voted upon by the Senate” — apparently voicing support for it going to the floor.
But Warner has been under relentless pressure from the anti-EFCA forces, who want the filibuster to block the bill at all costs...
C'mon, Senator Warner, stick to your guns on this one and vote for employee free choice! It's the right thing to do, and you can certainly afford it politically, being the most popular politician in Virginia and all. :) Thanks.
According to the House Committee on Education and Labor, the Employee Free Choice Act is about "allowing employees to make their own decision about whether they want to bargain together—to advocate for fairer wages, benefits and working conditions—without the threat or fear of harassment and retribution and fear of losing their livelihood." According to EFCA's (hysterical) opponents, it would represent "armageddon," "nuclear war," and "the demise of a civilization." That's right, our civilization is doomed if workers have enhanced ability to advocate for fairer wages, benefits and working conditions. So scary! :)
The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog, founded by me (Lowell Feld), but now including several other progressive writers. I can't speak for the other "front pagers," but I consider myself a progressive in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, RFK and actually a bunch of progressive Republicans (e.g., Jacob Javits, Lowell Weicker). As such, I believe in expanding opportunities to all, utilizing government as a tool to promote the general welfare and the common good, protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations, and expanding the rights promised in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to all Americans.
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This does not look good:
