The “card check” bill is weeks away from its first committee hearing, but with compromises likely to dictate the shape of the final product, the race to find alternatives is heating up — with much of the push coming from business and its backers.

The legislation would allow unions to organize a workplace once a majority of employees sign authorization cards, thus avoiding the secret-ballot elections that have proved disadvantageous to organized labor. The bill is labor’s top priority in the 111th Congress, and its most daunting task, because it will require finding an approach that appeals to moderates in both parties in the Senate in order to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

Divisions were underscored by an announcement over the weekend that Starbucks, Costco and Whole Foods were banding together as the Committee for a Level Playing Field. The group’s plan calls for guaranteeing unions worksite access to employees during non-work hours and timely elections, but it would deny them the public sign-up and mandatory arbitration provisions they support.

Unions have tried to spin the businesses’ repositioning on the legislation (HR 1409, S 560) as a sign that the pro-card-check movement is gaining momentum.

“It is clear that business is divided on this,” said Mary Beth Maxwell, executive director of the pro-labor American Rights at Work. “Business is realizing that the Employee Free Choice Act is moving . . . and that they need to at least look like they’re talking about solutions.”

But a group of Republican senators meeting Monday to discuss special challenges they say card-check legislation would pose for small businesses indicated that they’re not interested in accepting any versions of the legislation — not even ones that effectively would dismantle the basic tenets of the bill.

“The problem is that any kind of compromise on this can allow the bill to proceed and put it in front of a conference committee,” said John Ensign , R-Nev. “That is dangerous.”

Meanwhile, key Democratic lawmakers in both chambers had their own reasons for quickly dismissing the business coalition’s plans. Robert E. Andrews , D-N.J., chiarman of the Education and Labor HELP Subcommittee, Tom Harkin of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, and George Miller of California, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued a joint statement March 22 saying the proposal was “not a serious attempt at labor law reform.

“It even increases the power of CEOs to dominate workers’ choices by allowing CEOs to initiate drives to get rid of a union,” they said in their statement.

Under Pressure

That puts moderate Senate Democrats, who are under pressure to compromise, in an increasingly difficult position as Democratic leaders probe for middle ground that will produce a workable compromise on an issue that stalled in the 110th Congress.

“For months, I have been telling labor and the private sector to open a dialog and find compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act. These companies have not only stepped up, but they have told us what they can support, instead of what they oppose,” said Sen. Mark Pryor , D-Ark. “While I have not read a specific proposal, I appreciate a good-faith effort that could result in a reasonable compromise on what has become a highly polarizing matter.”

Pryor is one of several moderate Democrats, including former cosponsors of card-check legislation, who have been withholding their support for the legislation as they scout around for ways to amend the bill.