News reports have indicated that Congressional supporters of the deceptively titled Employee Free Choice Act are dropping the provision that would effectively eliminate the private ballot for union organizing. While this is good news for the protection of worker freedoms, the biggest threat to job creation and retention remains in play – government binding arbitration.

Binding arbitration, in which a government bureaucrat could dictate employment terms for employers and workers, is a job killer.

Enacting EFCA with its binding arbitration rules intact would significantly harm job creation and the economy in general. The provision would take critical workplace decisions out of the hands of both employees and employers and substitutes the priorities of outside federal government arbitrators. Contracts imposed by a government arbitrator would cover not only wages, benefits and workplace rules, but could even impact a company's operating strategy. A business would have no recourse to address onerous provisions, and, as written, workers would have no vote on the initial two-year contract. It is hard to imagine how a federal bureaucrat could better understand a company's operations and worker priorities than company owners and workers themselves.

The business community and workers have the right to be concerned. According to a recent study by economist Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar from the non-partisan consulting firm LECG Consulting, the unionization of a predicted 1.5 million existing jobs under EFCA in year one would lead to the loss of 600,000 jobs by the following year.

As part of his anti-EFCA remarks made on the U.S. Senate floor, Pennsylvania's senior senator, Arlen Specter, stressed that the problems of the recession make this a "particularly bad time" to enact Employee Free Choice legislation, noting that employers understandably worry that "adding a burden would result in further job losses."

The current bill would require binding arbitration if an initial contract is not reached within 120 days. Reportedly, some lawmakers are considering binding arbitration after one year. In any form, binding arbitration remains a non-starter for the business community.

In place of EFCA's card check provisions, a potential "compromise" reportedly would expedite unionization elections. However, it is unclear whether the National Labor Relations Board can meet this expedited schedule to have elections within days of having signed cards presented for an election. However, it is clear that this provision is designed to muzzle employers and prevent them from weighing in on the relative merits of unionization. Although reports are that the compromise will allow greater access by organized labor to the employees in the workplace.

Also part of a so-called "compromise:" calls for punitive fines and sanctions against employers, but not organized labor.

The PA Chamber continues to be actively engaged in the effort to stop EFCA or any proposed "compromise" that contains provisions harmful to job creation and economic growth.

To read the PA Chamber's recent op-ed on the dangers of EFCA that appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, click here.