Outreach Efforts Help Score Win for ACA and its Members in Card Check Battle

Attendees at ACA International‘s recent Executive Summit held in Washington, D.C., pegged the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)—including a particularly onerous provision referred to as “card check”—as the top business threat currently before Congress.

Among other provisions, the EFCA would abolish the secret ballot as a practical matter in favor of an open-ended process by which union organizers could force unionization by gathering the signatures of more than 50 percent of workers. There’s no question this process is ripe for intimidation and coercion, and if made law, it threatens to send tens of thousands of collection agency jobs overseas within a matter of weeks.

As a result of the Executive Summit, representatives from Horsham, Pa.-based ACA member NCO were able to arrange a meeting with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). At that meeting, NCO executives described the credit and collection industry, its affect on the Pennsylvania economy and the job base the industry has created in Pennsylvania and the nation. NCO representatives explained how card check would shrink that job base. Specter appears to have listened to the message—certainly as one of many considerations—as he recently announced he would oppose passage of the EFCA in the 110th Congress.

Opposition by Specter, the only Republican to have supported the legislation during the last Congress, is critical, as Senate rules require 60 votes to move passage of the legislation. This leaves Senate leadership at least one vote shy, even if all majority Democrats support—a unanimity that is now also in doubt.

ACA extends its most sincere gratitude for the tremendous advocacy efforts of NCO representatives and will continue in its efforts to ensure that EFCA and the onerous card check provision are never made law.

© 2009 ACA International. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with the express written permission of ACA International.