Given the flap from the last two days over Roy Herron, new media, and the Employee Free Choice Act, I figured it might be a good idea to see where the rest of the Democratic field stands on this important piece of pro-labor legislation.
I asked Mark Brown, spokesman for Ward Cammack, where Cammack stood on the issue of EFCA and organized labor. His response, via e-mail:
Ward met with Jerry Lee, Eddie Bryan, and A.J. Starling several weeks ago. (He has also attended Nashville's L Club, an SEIU open house and several other labor events.) Ward supports the right of workers to organize and believes that if workers are voting on whether or not they should organize, then the workers should decide the manner in which that election is conducted. That's a matter of basic fairness.
Having said that, Ward strongly believes that labor and management must both have a seat at the table when it comes to economic development and all of its related issues. It's going to take all of us working together to pull through the current economic storm. As Ward likes to say, it's about finding win-wins.
It sounds like we can take Cammack's answer as "Yes, he supports EFCA." (UPDATE: On further clarification, yes, he does support EFCA). Unless I'm completely misunderstanding EFCA, isn't the whole idea behind it that workers should be allowed to decide how an election is conducted, whether via card check or, if a majority of workers want it, secret ballot? The point is not to favor the card check over the secret ballot, but to allow workers, not management, to make that decision.
I'm interviewing Kim McMillan later this afternoon, and that question is on my list.
As soon as Mike McWherter comes out with a position on this issue, or on any other issue, I will certainly pass that along.
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