WASHINGTON – Organized labor has pushed long and hard to get a worker-friendly Congress and president in office, in order to assure passage of its No. 1 legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act.

But the nation’s big business community has pushed back with all of its might, money and political machinery to keep the EFCA from getting passed – and it won the latest round.

On March 24, moderate Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter dealt a crippling blow to the prospects of the Employee Free Choice Act, by announcing that he would not support the measure. Specter’s defection (he supported the EFCA last year) deprived labor, and Senate Democrats, of what would be the needed 60th vote to derail a certain Republican filibuster against the bill.

“The better way to expand labor’s clout in collective bargaining is through amendments to the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act) rather than on eliminating the secret ballot and mandatory arbitration,” Specter said in his floor speech.

Specter’s statement “is a disappointment and a rebuke to working people” nationwide, said AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. Sweeney nevertheless vowed unions and their allies would continue to keep up their campaign for the law. “We will continue to work with Democrats and a number of Republicans to create common sense solutions to the decades of corporate power. We do not plan to let a hardball campaign from Big Business derail the Employee Free Choice Act or the dreams of workers.”

Spector’s position, said the Wall Street Journal, “could clear the way for compromise legislation,” although both labor and Big Business said they didn’t like an alternative plan put forth by the CEOs of Whole Foods Market, Costco and Starbucks. It would give union organizers greater access to workers, set quicker dates for elections, and impose tougher penalties on employers for intimidating workers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, big business and virtually the entire Republican Party hate the Employee Free Choice Act. Home Depot CEO Bernie Marcus actually said passage of the bill would be the “demise of civilization.” Last year the business community spent $70 million in television ads to oppose the EFCA.

In addition, just before Specter’s announcement, nonunion Federal Express announced that if the Employee Free Choice act were to pass, it would cancel the purchase of 30 new Boeing planes. Union officials accused FedEx of blackmailing Congress.

Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is expected to make it easier for unions to organize. The act would allow workers to choose a secret ballot or majority sign-up when deciding whether to join a union. Under majority sign-up, workers could join a union if most of them sign cards saying that they want to join a union.

But the current system allows employers, not workers, to choose whether secret ballots or majority card sign-up is used. Employers usually choose the more formal secret ballot system, and are able to delay the ballots for months or years, while taking the time to coerce workers not to choose union representation.

Employers’ two biggest arguments against EFCA are the loss of the secret ballot for workers (even though workers could use secret ballots if they chose) and the use of an arbitrator – the EFCA requires company management and newly certified unions to enter binding arbitration if they can’t come to terms on an initial contract after 90 days of negotiations.

“Employers almost always choose secret elections,” said Teamsters President James Hoffa in a column we published last month. “These elections are fair in the way secret elections in East Germany were fair. Employers hire union-busters to determine workers’ preferences. Workers who support unions are threatened, intimidated, and fired.”

Specter acknowledged that he would be the key vote to break the filibuster, since he estimated the Democrats would have 59 votes by the time the legislation hits the floor, assuming Democrat Al Franken eventually wins Minnesota’s still-open Senate seat. The Senate is the battleground for the bill. The EFCA would easily pass the Democratic-lead House, and President Obama has indicated he would sign the bill.

The head of the other major labor federation, Change To Win Chair Anna Burger, who is also a Pennsylvanian, was more optimistic about bringing Specter around – eventually. Specter said a recession was the wrong time to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, but that he would review his stand when conditions change. Specter is also facing a tough fight for his seat in the next Senate primary, and his stance on the EFCA will help him with Republicans.

“Allowing workers the choice to join together, free from intimidation and harassment, to bargain for job security, better wages and health care will stimulate our economy and put working families back on the path of prosperity,” Burger said. “We will continue to work with Democrats and Republicans, including Specter, to pass this critical legislation and make our economy work for everyone.”

The rancor over the bill has also caused heartburn for moderate Democratic senators, especially in Southern states, who know that a vote for the EFCA will be used against them at election time. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) told Politico: “I think it now begs for a compromise.”

(Press Associates contributed to this report)