The nation's labor leaders expect the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) to be passed by the Democratic Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, hopefully, in his first 100 days in office. They claim that passage of EFCA would give workers an opportunity to join unions without fear of intimidation or loss of job. In the past three years, union organizing has been mostly "on hold," because of fierce employer opposition. But today, they can echo President-elect Obama's mantra: "Now is the time. Now is the moment."

Certainly, the Obama-Biden ticket should be grateful for the extraordinary support it received from both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win. In the final week of the campaign, the unions sent out 250,000 volunteers, made millions of phone calls and home visits, reaching out to more than 13 million voters in 24 states. Their efforts helped Obama win crucial working class votes in such battleground states as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Florida, Nevada and Wisconsin. The two labor federations spent a total of nearly $450 million to support the Obama-Biden ticket - an impressive record in a changing time.

Most Americans are not familiar with the EFCA or its special importance as labor's top priority. The bill would allow workers to join and be represented by a union when a majority in the workplace signed union authorization cards. Another provision of the bill would compel employers to reach agreement on a first contract with a newly recognized union in 120 days or face binding arbitration of the contract by an appointed arbitrator.

But because organized labor conducted a restricted campaign for EFCA, mainly limited to its own members and based largely on e-mails to Congress, its influence was not as wide as it should have been. It raised a few problems:

(1) While President Obama and Vice President Biden endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act when they were senators, and so did the House by a substantial majority, EFCA never became an issue in the election campaign. Tens of millions of voters never heard of it. It was not mentioned in any of the debates by the candidates or on their television ads. It may call for a lot of explanation to puzzled Obama supporters if this issue is given precedence over more popular and pressing ones.

(2) The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and hundreds of companies, large and small, have given notice that they will wage a full-court press against EFCA, charging that a secret ballot, rather than signing a card is the fairest way to test whether workers want or do not want to join a union. The Obama administration will, almost certainly, be drawn into the controversy at a time when it is trying to stabilize the economy or working on a stimulus package, or taking action on health care or the environment.

(3) While EFCA is designed to rectify a fundamental abuse of the rights of workers, who represent a major segment of our population, it will be seen as legislation for a special interest group. It is undeniable that proponents of the bill are almost exclusively workers who are, and have been, union members, while non-union workers, who would benefit from EFCA have remained largely silent and inactive.

Will EFCA's passage inspire millions of workers to join unions?

Many union leaders predict that with passage of EFCA, the labor movement will organize millions of new members within a few years. However, they don't explain how it will be done. There is no evidence of a national organizing plan. Will passage of EFCA automatically cause workers to rush to join unions?

For the labor movement to grow in numbers and bargaining power, there must be major changes that will make unions more appealing to the nation's unorganized workers. It will require new, aggressive leadership that has the skill and the will to restore labor's former strength and national influence.