By Zack Stovall
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Unwilling to give up on making it easier for workers to organize, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said Wednesday he is eyeing a new proposal both business and labor could support.
“It wouldn’t be a compromise. It’d be new legislation,” Pryor told reporters in a conference call, separate from the Employee Free Choice Act that died in the Senate this spring for lack of Democratic support to break a likely Republican filibuster.
The so-called “card check” bill, which would allow workers to form a union without a secret ballot if a majority signed cards, evoked bitter rhetoric between business and labor before key former backers, U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., among them, pulled their support.
Pryor said he had bipartisan legislation in mind that would address what he called a break down in the process and make workers’ decisions about unionization “less confrontational and even-handed across the board.”
While he has nothing in writing, the senator said he has had numerous meetings with business and labor officials.
“Surprisingly, there’s a lot that they can agree on. We just have to tune out the rhetoric on both sides,” he said.
Business and labor officials in Arkansas did not appear to share Pryor’s optimism.
Kenny Hall, vice president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, said that the current system is not broken, and does not necessarily favor business.
“In fact, I believe labor unions are winning over half of the elections right now,” Hall said.
Sylvester Smith, state director for the National Federation for Independent Business, also cited labor gains and said seeing who the process is not working for was difficult for him.
“It’s going to be very challenging to find an agreement. The heavy rhetoric that’s been used creates a challenging dynamic,” Smith said.
Alan Hughes, president of the Arkansas AFL-CIO, said he’d be willing to sit down and discuss what labor would need to give up to reach a compromise, but he said business has been unwilling to budge.
“We’ve been saying there’s a break down in the process for a long time. Companies are violating workers’ rights, and that’s illegal,” Hughes said. “I would need to see (a proposal) before I can comment.”
Both sides commended Pryor for trying to bridge the divide.
“I certainly appreciate (Pryor) bringing warring factions together in the spirit of compromise,” said Smith. “But right now, there’s nothing to negotiate.”
