But that wasn’t good enough for many rank-and-file union members in the crowd—some groaned in displeasure, some booed, and at least one hurled an epithet at Specter.You can see Heinlein make his point at around 4:52 in the second video (you can also see Rob Frank who recently ran for City Council standing in front of him).
“You want my vote? I want yours!” John Heinlein, 20 a retired ironworker, shouted repeatedly until Specter was forced to acknowledge him.
Attempting to calm the crowd, Specter said: “I understand your job’s on the line and I understand that my job’s on the line. I understand that, and I believe that you’ll be satisfied with my vote on this issue. And if you’re not, I recognize your right in a free society to cast your vote as you choose.”
Later, after Specter left the makeshift stage to chants of “Free Choice Act,” Heinlein told pa2010.com that Specter was on thin ice.
“I voted for him in the past,” Heinlein said. “But he can’t fence-ride on this. If he wants our support, he has to vote for this. If he votes against this, he’ll never get my vote again.
“We'll keep you informed about key upcoming votes where Sen. Specter's vote will be vital to the success of the progressive position. We'll give you accurate information about the issue and we'll provide you with the opportunity to take action to help persuade Arlen to do the right thing.”
And “We'll let you know how Sen. Specter has voted on important progressive issues since he made the switch. We'll display his ‘progressive batting average’ and keep it updated when he takes votes on those issues.”
We have a long way to go before the Senate primary in 2010. Give our new Democratic Senator a chance to prove that he will support the President's agenda on the floor of the Senate, both on the merits and on procedural votes.(NOTE: At about 3:45 in the 2nd video Arlen puts on the charm. While talking about the chemotherapy he had, he notes that you lose all your hair but "Of course you can become a sex symbol like Joe Hoeffel.")
Congressman Joe Sestak is indicating he is likely to run for the Senate next year. Joe Sestak would be a great candidate and would pose a terrific primary challenge to Arlen Specter.
Let's make sure we nominate a candidate for the Senate in 2010 from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.
Short of divine intervention, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7) is running for Senate.C'mon, Joe, take the plunge!
“It would take an act of God for me to not get in now,” Sestak told a Democratic State Committeeman Saturday morning within earshot of reporters.
Hearing his quote read back to him, Sestak cringed.
“That sounds blasphemous,” he said, not denying that he said it—and has said it before.
But he reiterated to pa2010.com that the final decision rests with his family—not the Lord Almighty.
“I want us to be in this together,” he said.
The big issue is whether the Employee Free Choice Act takes away the workers' secret ballot in unionizing.Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity is quoted as saying:
It takes the right of the secret ballot away from American workers when they're deciding whether or not to join a union. It's almost unamerican in many ways.Jack Shea, president of the Allegheny County Labor Council says otherwise:
It's a lie. They're lying.Unfortunately, Delano doesn't delve into which one is telling the truth (though in fairness, he does state early in the piece that the bill "would make it easier to unionize companies").
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, whenever a petition shall have been filed by an employee or group of employees or any individual or labor organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual or labor organization for such purposes, the Board shall investigate the petition. If the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations designating the individual or labor organization specified in the petition as their bargaining representative and that no other individual or labor organization is currently certified or recognized as the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the unit, the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization as the representative described in subsection (a).Here's the National Labor Relations Act. You can hunt down 29 U.S.C. 159(c) on your own, if you like.
Here's how it works currently: Say you work at a factory and you want to form a union. First, you approach your favorite union and request a bunch of blank cards. (Here's what they look like.) Then you go around to your colleagues and ask them whether they want to sign up. If they do, they sign their name to the cards. Once you get 30 percent of the total work force to sign cards, you're eligible to hold an election on whether to form a union. (Workers usually wait till they get at least 50 percent or 60 percent, just to make sure they will win the election.) You then present the cards to the National Labor Relations Board and the employer. The employer can then either recognize the union right away or request a secret-ballot election, which must happen within 60 days. If more than 50 percent of employees vote for a union, they've got a union. If not, they don't.And what would things look like if the EFCA passes? Beam:
It's simple: the choice of a "secret ballot" would be up to the employees not the employers. Something you don't hear too much from the media, huh?The essential change of the EFCA would be to allow the employees—rather than the employer—to decide whether to hold a secret-ballot election. If at least half of the work force signed cards saying it wanted a union, there would be a union—without the rigmarole of a full-blown election.
Workers still have the option of holding a secret ballot election, of course. But, again, as a practical matter, it's hard to imagine why a group of workers, having just won a union, would then also decide to hold an election. Sure, a smaller group of workers—it'd have to be at least 30 percent—could still petition for a secret ballot. But the legislation clearly states that "[i]f the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations … the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization as the representative." [emphasis in original]
