Lincoln further explains opposition to Card Check

The ongoing economic crisis is the primary reason U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., announced April 6 her opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.

EFCA was filed Mar. 10 by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. The act — commonly referred to as “card check” — seeks to make it easier for unions to organize. The most controversial part of the Act would allow the designation of a union if a majority of employees sign pro-union authorization cards. Once the National Labor Relations Board validates the signatures, a union is created and collective bargaining with the employer begins.

Lincoln, who previously supported allowing the Act to move to a Senate floor debate and vote, said in this interview with Roby Brock that now is not the time for Congress to mediate a dispute between Big Labor and Big Business.

“We’ve got to focus on this economy,” Lincoln said in the interview.

She encouraged labor and business to come together with a labor reform package and then submit the plan to Congress.