The Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 (EFCA) was introduced in Congress last week.  The House and Senate Labor Committee chairs, Representative George Miller (D-CA) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), introduced the EFCA bills on Tuesday, March 10 (H.R. 1409 / S. 560).  These bills are identical to legislation that passed the House of Representatives in 2007, but stalled in the Senate. 

As background, it's important to note that EFCA played an important role in turning out the labor vote during the November 2008 elections - which saw Democrats pick up as many as eight seats in the Senate, depending on the outcome of the Minnesota contest between Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D).  In addition, President Obama campaigned in support of EFCA, and indicated he would sign it into law if elected president.

While the Democratic Party gained additional seats in the Senate and House as a result of the 2008 elections, Democratic support for EFCA seems to have waned a bit.  In 2007, EFCA was introduced with 230 original cosponsors in the House.  This year, however, the House bill has 222 cosponsors.  In the Senate, a few previous supporters of the bill have publicly state they need to re-consider this issue.
In brief, EFCA would:

Make your voice heard - contact your state legislators today!  If you are a SHRM member you can do this in a few easy steps by going to SHRM.ORG.  If you are not a SHRM member, you can reach your elected officials:

Senator Jeff Bingaman,
Senator Tom Udall, 202.224.6621
Representative Martin Heinrich, 202.225.6316

For more information on EFCA or other labor and employment related legislation, please contact Alice Barela, PHR (SHRM of NM State Legislative Director & HRMA VP of Legislative Information) at alice.barela@gmail.com.