Lincoln comes out against EFCA

LITTLE ROCK U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln on Monday said she will not support the proposed Employee Free Choice Act in its current form, calling the legislation a potential diversion.

In a speech to the Political Animals Club, the Democrat from Arkansas said she could not support the EFCA, which is federal legislation aimed at making union organizing easier. Lincoln, who faces re-election in 2010, has been targeted by Republicans over the issue. She'd said previously she was undecided, but that she didn't view the legislation as immediately necessary.

Her tone was more direct Monday.

"I cannot support that bill. I cannot support it in its current form," Lincoln told those gathered for the luncheon at the governor's mansion. "I may not have said that as clearly before, but I'm saying it now."

The bill would dramatically reform labor laws by allowing workers to form unions by simply signing a card or petition, removing an employer's right to demand a secret ballot vote. It also would impose stronger penalties on employers who violate labor laws and allow for arbitration to settle contract disputes.

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"It is one of those issues that creates great division, as well as distraction, at a time when we need all hands on deck," Lincoln said. "We have got to have our eyes focused on what we are doing, and I believe that now more than ever before, in terms of this economy and turning our country around."

President Barack Obama has said he's backing the bill.

In 2004, Lincoln earned the rare distinction of being backed by both the Arkansas chapter of the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Alan Hughes, the Arkansas AFL-CIO's president, said he wants Lincoln to help produce an altered version of the bill.

"If I read into it, I think she was encouraging some kind of compromise between management and labor. She couldn't support the bill in the form it's in now," Hughes said. "I encourage her to try to bring something back from management so that we might look at it, but that's not saying that that's the way it's going to happen."

Hughes stopped short of threatening to support someone else in next year's election, when Lincoln will seek her third term.

"We still think this is the right thing to do, and we hope there's still a way we can get her to come around," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you we're going to run somebody against her."

Lincoln has no announced Republican opponent. Former U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin has said he's considering running against her and said he hopes to make a decision soon.

Griffin said Lincoln's opposition to EFCA is almost a moot point he said the bill was unlikely to pass.

"Senator Lincoln can indicate that she's not going to vote for it, but the reality is it probably was not going to be brought up anyway," Griffin said.

Lincoln said she considers herself a friend of both business and labor.

"Those are the two groups of people we need at the table more than anybody," she said. "We need workers and we need business at the table, if we're going to put this economy back on track, and I don't think the discussion on the Employee Free Choice Act has helped us do that."

Lincoln also said there are other priorities she puts ahead of the EFCA.

"We don't move at breakneck speed in Washington, and when you have something that is that divisive and that distracting with the little time that we have to do health care reform and energy reform and to start tax reform in the fall, we're going to be doing a tremendous amount of work," she said. "And to stop and do something like that would completely eliminate our ability to focus and spend the kind of time that we need, so I think it's time to move on."

Hughes disagreed.

"If this has drawn that much attention this is that serious it ought to be dealt with now," he said. "I think it's up to that senator and others to see what they can pull together."