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Washington Report
August - September 2007
Procedural vote kills union bill-for now
by ICCFA General Counsel Robert M. Fells, Esq.
The controversial Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800/S. 1041), a bill that would abolish secret ballot elections for workers in deciding whether or not to unionize, was "killed" for the time being in the U.S. Senate. Following vigorous debate over the bill on June 25 and 26, a vote was taken to close debate. This procedure, known as cloture, is necessary in order to allow the bill to be brought to a vote and requires 60 votes. Otherwise, debate will continue or, as is usually the case, the bill is tabled for future consideration.
The cloture vote failed 51-48 and further consideration of the bill was tabled. Observers believe the bill will not be considered again until next year at the earliest. H.R. 800 was quickly approved by the House of Representatives on March 1, by a vote of 241-185. (See the Irwin Shipper interview on page 12 for more information on this legislation)
Copyright ICCFA 2007
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