Dan Pilcher

CACI Senior Vice President

& Chief Operating Officer

Phone: 303.866.9600

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

CACI Delegation Visits Washington to Lobby Colorado U.S. Senators Bennet and Udall Today to Oppose “Card-Check” Legislation

A 40-member CACI delegation this morning met with Colorado’s Democratic U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet to urge them to oppose the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as the “card check” bill advocated by organized labor.

CACI Board Chair Peter O’Connor, Chief Administrative Officer of AngloGold Ashanti N.A., said that Senator Bennet told the CACI delegation that, although he continues to remain neutral on the bill and continues to listen to the concerns of both labor and business, there are more important issues that the Senate should be tackling, such as the economy, health care and education.

Senator Udall, who did not co-sponsor the bill, said that he would support ending the debate against a bill, which is known as a “filibuster,” by voting for “cloture,” which would then bring the bill up for a simple-majority vote on the Floor. Senator Udall would not say, however, whether or not he would vote for the bill on the Floor. Senator Udall said that he has given two speeches where he has expressed concern about the secret-ballot provision and the binding arbitration provision of the bill.

CACI strongly believes, however, that the critical vote will be the vote for cloture, which requires 60 votes, since the bill’s supporters can now easily pass the bill with 50 votes on the Floor. A senator can thus vote for cloture but against the bill, which is known as a “free vote” because the vote in opposition becomes meaningless.

In 2007, then-Representative Udall was a co-sponsor of card-check and voted for the bill, which passed the House only to die in the Senate because the votes were lacking for cloture. Senator Udall told the CACI delegation that he supported the bill in then because the Bush Administration was “asleep at the wheel.”

Delegation members also met with three Colorado members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Republican Mike Coffman (District 6), who opposes the bill; Democrat Jared Polis (District 2); and Democrat Betsy Markey (D-District 4), who is a co-sponsor of the bill.

The highly-controversial EFCA would effectively strip employees of a private ballot in union-organizing drives, hand the federal government power to dictate workplace pay and benefits and force unfair mandates on small business.

The Colorado delegation was particularly interested in meeting with Senator Bennet, whose vote could be critical in determining whether supporters can gather the necessary 60 votes to advance the bill. Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia), who also are undecided on the proposal, are considered key votes in addition to Senator Bennet. The recently announced opposition to the bill by Republican Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, however, has raised the possibility that the bill’s proponents will not be able to reach the 60 votes needed to end debate and bring the bill to a vote on the Senate Floor.

The “fly-in” event was a major effort organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to raise Congressional awareness for EFCA’s negative impact on business. On March 10th, delegations from Louisiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Virginia flew in to lobby against “card check.” Today, delegations of business leaders and community representatives from such states as Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, North Dakota and Montana visited the U.S. Capitol to voice opposition to EFCA to their elected senators and congressmen.

EFCA was introduced this session in the House March 10th with 223 original co-sponsors in the House and 40 co-sponsors in the Senate. This represents seven fewer co-sponsors in the House and seven fewer in the Senate than when introduced in 2007, despite expanded majorities this session supposedly sympathetic to the bill. The bill’s supporters fell nine votes shy of moving it forward in the Senate in 2007.

Twenty-two local chambers of commerce in Colorado have joined CACI in opposition to EFCA. The following chambers, which represent the interests of thousands of businesses and workers across Colorado, collectively endorsed a letter urging Colorado’s nine congressional delegates to oppose the proposal. The letter, signed by CACI President Chuck Berry, was hand-delivered by the CACI delegation today to Colorado’s Senators and Representatives from the following chambers, which are CACI members:

The CACI delegation to Washington D.C. included representatives from many of Colorado’s leading businesses and chambers, including:

American Furniture Warehouse Ameristar Casinos

AngloGold Ashanti AsiaPacific Access

Aurora Chamber of Commerce Brannan Sand & Gravel Co.

Citywide Bank CoCal Landscape

Colorado Printing CoorsTek

CSG Systems International Encore Electric

Foam Fabricators GE Johnson Construction Co.

Golden Casino Group HealthTrans

Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP Littler Mendelson

MillerCoors Norgren

Outback Steakhouse Colorado Quest Diagnostics

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Rocky Mountain Clothing Co.

Rocky Mountain Natural Meats Sheraton Denver West

Southwest Airlines Starwood Hotels & Resorts

TransFirst LLC TW Telecom

Universal Forest Products West Chamber Serving Jefferson County