As the Obama Administration-in-Waiting begins to set its agenda, let's make sure that one thing stays near the top: The Employee Free Choice Act.
The EFCA will help restore balance to the worker-management relationship and crank up a powerful engine for progressive change: a rising labor movement.
I propose that the incoming Obama Administration and the strengthened Democratic Congress join with the unions, the netroots, and other grassroots progressives to take the case for the EFCA directly to the American people. This will put maximum pressure on potential filibusterers; outgun the big-money, anti-union opposition to EFCA; and strengthen the progressive coalition by highlighting an overarching shared interest: Reigning in corporate power.
Going Big
Imagine a full-court press by the Left to pass the EFCA. In addition to the already strong push from labor, what if we also saw a strong push from the Obama Administration. Why not draw upon the nation's goodwill toward its cool, new president to pass this landmark legislation?
Here are some bringing-in-the-big-gun possibilities:
- President Obama, in his first month in office, delivers a major address and/or holds a press conference specifically on the Employee Free Choice Act,
- President Obama uses the gargantuan email list from his campaign to directly inform his supporters about the EFCA and provide action items,
- President Obama taps former campaign volunteers to canvass their communities, in coordination with union efforts, in support of EFCA.
I realize there will be worries about President Obama overreaching, and he needs to be careful about what he goes out on a limb for. But any short list of important progressive legislative priorities that you can come up with has got to include the EFCA. Obama has already been a vocal proponent of the EFCA (he's also a cosponsor). Let's hope he continues his strong support.
Preventing Potential Filibusters
From what I understand, the Employee Free Choice Act will be won or lost in the senate. (It passed the House in 2007, by a vote of 241 to 185.) There is of course still a chance that Democrats will win a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority. But if we don't get 60, we can make filibustering the EFCA politically unsustainable for Republicans. I think we do this by continuing to shine a light on the debate and pitting the "mandate" for President Obama and the new Congress against whichever senate Republicans want to read from the phonebook.
Polls already show that 71% of Americans say Republicans "should give Obama the benefit of the doubt and help him achieve his plans." Republicans who stand in the way of the Employee Free Choice Act will only pull their party deeper into irrelevancy, reiterating again that Republicans stand firmly with big business against ordinary Americans.
Overwhelming the Big-Money Opposition
Business interests have already spent at least $120 million dollars campaigning against the EFCA. A lot of that money was spent trying unsuccessfully to defeat Democratic congressional candidates. We can bet that now they'll spend even more trying to sway conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans. The money is funneled through right-wing groups with Orwellian names, like "Coalition for a Democratic Workplace," "Employee Freedom Action Committee," "Center for Union Facts," and from casino tycoon, Sheldon Adelson.
We can't match big business dollar for dollar in this fight. But we can have the the country's biggest bully pulpit on our side. The vocal support of an enormously popular, first-term president would get a lot more attention than 30-second ads running during 30 Rock.
Uniting the Progressive Coalition
Fighting for the EFCA can give us a "teamsters and turtles"moment, echoing Seattle '99, uniting the major constituents of the progressive coalition, and making us stronger for other battles. We need to communicate that the EFCA is about more than just workers rights. It's about reigning in corporate power and reclaiming our democracy. Unbridled corporate power, nearly achieved in the Bush years, let's moneyed interest run roughshod not only over workers, but over the environment, over minority rights, over immigrants, over small business, over small farmers, over transparent government. Progressives may have different things we want to accomplish during the Obama Administration, but none of us get anywhere until we smash through the corporate roadblocks in our way.
Final Note to Kossacks
I'm sticking my neck out on this one. But here goes.
I am underwhelmed by the level of support for the labor movement shown by many fellow kossacks. I am reacting to the impression I get from comments in labor-related diaries (and from conversations with progressive friends). I have seen no kossack who is hostile to labor, but too many of us talk of the labor movement like it is something outdated, from our grandfathers' Democratic Party. I think, when some of us think of unions, we picture only middle-age white men in dying, heavy industries.
Let me say, the fact that this impression can be found among kossacks and progressives illustrates a number of problems the EFCA will help address:
-We need more organizing in the industries of our new economy.
-We need more organizing of young and minority workers.
-We need a powerful labor movement like the one that helped give Democrats the New Deal Coalition.
We need to educate a new generation of young, "creative class" progressives about the importance of organized labor to both progressivism and the Democratic Party. I believe that a strong labor movement is the key ingredient to any lasting progressive majority.
We need a stronger partnership between the Daily Kos crowd picket line crowd.
What we need, kossacks, is: "Creative Class and Carpenters together at last!"
Resources
Learn More about the Employee Free Choice Act
Sign the petition
Find out whether your representative voted for the EFCA
Find out whether your senators co-sponsored the EFCA
Support EFCA on Facebook