Another Blue Dog Dem Confirms He’ll Vote Against Employee Free Choice

[babylonsister]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/labor/another-blue-dog-dem-confirms-hell-oppose-employee-free-choice/

Another Blue Dog Dem Confirms He’ll Vote Against Employee Free Choice


We already have Blue Dog Dem Dan Boren confirming on the record that he’ll vote against the Employee Free Choice Act.

And now we have a second. Mississippi Dem Rep. Travis Childers’ office just confirmed to me that he will vote against the measure, which is designed to make it easier for unions to organize and is far and away labor’s top priority.

Childers — also a Blue Dog — explained his thinking in a statement to his local paper:

“I plan to vote against the current card check bill. In these uncertain times, I’m very concerned that a wide range of small business leaders believe this will hurt job creation and economic development efforts in our region. There may be parts of the country where this measure will not have the same impact it will have here in north Mississippi, but my job is to put the 1st Congressional District first.”

Childers’ office confirms that he stands by the statement.

The rub here is that Childers, unlike Boren, didn’t vote against the measure in the last Congress, because he wasn’t in Congress at the time. Childers, in theory, was gettable for the pro-Employee Free Choice forces. So the optics of this one aren’t great for the pro-EFCA camp.

The labor side — SEIU in particular — has launched a tough campaign against Boren designed to make him pay a political price for his opposition. No response from the labor side yet on Childers, though.

[Hello_Kitty]

1. I'm not that worried about Congress. It's the Senate where it needs the votes. eom