Specter eyes support for Employee Free Choice bill

[babylonsister]

Now here's a man with principles, but they depend on the day of the week and what party he's in at the time. Win/win this time.

Specter eyes support for Employee Free Choice bill
Author: John Wojcik
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 05/06/09 14:28



A spokesperson for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the lead sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, confirmed today that an agreement is near that will allow Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) to return to his earlier position of support for the legislation.

Specter, originally a co-sponsor of the bill, announced on March 24 that he had switched to the opposition. At the time, as a Republican senator, he was under pressure from business lobbyists and right-wing Republicans lining up against him in that party’s coming primary election.

Since then he switched to the Democratic Party, and today he signaled his willingness to switch back to the pro-union side on the Employee Free Choice Act. He said, “I’m opposed to giving up the secret ballot or mandatory arbitration, as they are set forth in the bill, but I do believe that labor law reform is past overdue.”

Harkin confirmed, early this morning, that “Senator Specter’s staff and my staff have been working diligently over the last several days to get everything ready.”

Harkin was not specific about any particular compromises in the bill that he was willing to make. When a message was left on his answering machine, asking for confirmation of a Bloomberg news report that giving up majority signup was a “possibility,” Harkin’s spokesperson quickly returned the call and insisted there would be “no compromise on any of the core principles.”

more...

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/15517/

[Soylent Brice]

1. curious what kind of concessions are being discussed...

either way, he still sucks.

[Occam Bandage]

2. Huh. Guess losing seniority bites hard, Arlen. nt

[AlinPA]

3. Let's not get confident - he will switch to voting against it to bow to his republican

masters. Don't trust this guy.

[Occam Bandage]

4. If he "bowed to his Republican masters,"

he'd have beaten Toomey and wouldn't have had to bolt the party. They hate him even more than we do.

[TwilightZone]

5. Republican masters?

They couldn't even keep him in the party.

[AlinPA]

6. So far he is 0-2 on votes (bankruptcy,budget). Don't expect him to vote with

Democrats.

[JimGinPA]

7. I Think He Got A Wake-Up Call Last Night

It's in his best interest to get along now.

[backscatter712]

8. He's a sleazy snake, but he can be our sleazy snake.

Funny how yoinking his seniority can make him miraculously turn pro-labor again.

He's very self-serving, which makes him predictable, and manipulatable.

Pennsylvania's very much a union state, and he needs the unions to stay in office. I'm sure a few representatives from the AFL-CIO and SEIU had a chat with him...

The truth is that we've got him by the short and curlies. He had to make a show on TV of not being our bitch, but overplayed it, and well, now he's our bitch. Let's have some fun...

[Ysabela]

10. LOL Your assessment of the situation is both hilarious and dead on. n/t

[firedupdem]

9. He's waking up....I figured he would start to see the light. n/t