Specter Supported Employee Free Choice Before He Was Against It

AFL-CIO, Apr 7, 2009

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today repeated his intent on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to block a Senate vote on the Employee Free Choice Act, despite his past support of the bill. The bill hasn’t changed—so why has Specter flipped?

Compiling a few video clips, we look at Specter’s most recent statements and compare them with what he said in 2005, when he was “delighted” to join Sen. Ted Kennedy, Rep. George Miller and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Back then, Specter said the bill was important and necessary, worth supporting specifically because the option of majority sign-up needs to be available if workers want it to form a union.

Said Specter in 2005: 

We held hearings last year and it was my conclusion, my judgment that this legislation ought to be pursued. 

The basic approach, that workers should have an opportunity by majority rule to determine labor organization, is fundamental in America. 

That was when Specter felt current law was “unwise” to allow the kind of management delays and coercion that were—and are—too common in the process of forming unions. He argued explicitly in favor of making sure workers had the option of majority sign-up. 

Later in 2005, in a video message to AFL-CIO Convention delegates, Specter boasted about the seniority he achieved thanks to union members’ support and proudly proclaimed himself a “lead sponsor” of the Employee Free Choice Act. 

Now, after consulting with “interested parties,” Specter has changed his mind on the issue, saying he won’t even support allowing the bill to get a simple vote in the full Senate. 

The language of the bill is the same now as when Specter co-sponsored it in 2005. It’s the same language as it was in 2007, when Specter voted against a filibuster and in support of allowing a Senate vote. 

The video encourages viewers to call Specter and see what his position on the bill is today. You can reach his office in Allentown, Pa., at 610-434-1444 or his office in Washington, D.C., at 202-224-4254.