Specter gets ready to flip back on union bill

By GottaLaff

Arlen's playing his Arlen games, fine and dandy. But let's hope EFCA doesn't get too watered down in the process:

Labor is pushing hard for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would let workers join unions by signing cards, instead of holding secret-ballot elections. [...] The Senate appears to be engaging in an elaborate operation to help Arlen Specter save face before he folds and votes with his, ahem, fellow Democrats on one of labor's top legislative priorities. [...]

The right wing of the GOP, in particular, hates the bill, which would probably help slow -- or even reverse -- a long trend of declining union membership, by making it easier to organize workplaces.

Suddenly, though, the whole calculus has changed. Specter said when he switched parties that he would still oppose the legislation "in its current form." But just as realpolitik dictated that he oppose the bill as a Republican, he probably has no choice but to support it as a Democrat, especially if his two opponents in the party's primary -- both of whom have been Democrats since before April -- stay in the race.

All of that may explain why Specter suddenly acknowledged today that he's feeling a lot better about the legislation. He's been in talks with Democrats Tom Harkin of Iowa and Dianne Feinstein of California about how to change the proposal a bit to get him on board. Chances are, he won't drive a very hard bargain; one union official says labor will probably go along with minor tweaks as long as the "core principles" of the bill are preserved. Specter will be able to point to some cosmetic changes to explain why he's going back to supporting legislation he's supported in the past, and that will be that.

And lo and behold, just in the nick of time, President Obama agreed today that some compromise could probably work, as well, and reiterated his support for the bill.