Audio of the conference call, which was obtained by the Huffington Post, is excerpted throughout this piece to provide a clearer insight into the pitched battle surrounding the Employee Free Choice legislation. ...


www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/bank-of-america-hosted-an_n_161248.html


Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill. Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts.

At one point, another individual on the call suggested that participants send major contributions to Berman's organization as a way of affecting the election without violating the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. "Some organizations have written checks for $250,000, $500,000, some $2 million for this," said the man, likely Steven Hantler, the director of free enterprise and entrepreneurship at Bernie Marcus' Marcus Foundation.

Citing the massive war chests that unions have brought to the EFCA fight, Marcus asked participants to make campaign donations rather than lobbying payments.

On the same day that The Huffington Post broke the news that financial executives receiving billions in bailout funds schemed to block the Employee Free Choice Act with campaign cash, Human Rights Watch issued a report endorsing the bill as vital to protecting workers' rights.

Now some reform groups, I've learned, are looking into whether the bailout recipients violated federal laws in using part of the bailout billions towards lobbying against the Employee Free Choice Act -- and could ask for a Congressional investigation.

For More Information on EFCA please visit our website and blog


www.employeefreechoiceactnow.org

efcanow.blogspot.com/

www.FreeChoiceActNow.Org

www.LaborUnionResources.Org