After EFCA, what next for Unions?

With the Obama Administration halfway through its third year, it is increasingly difficult to disagree with the assessment of Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson that the Democratic President’s tenure has been an ‘unmitigated disaster’ for organised labour. ¹ After the failure of labour’s highest legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in 2009, much of the rest of the Obama Administration’s time in office has been characterised by sustained attacks on collective bargaining at both the State and Federal levels—especially after the sweeping Republican victories in the 2010 mid-term elections. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the environment for organised labour will improve much before the 2012 election.