As he welcomed the support of a group of union officials Monday, Sen. Arlen Specter had bad news for them on the legislative prospects for one of labor's key national priorities.

Mr. Specter acknowledged that the results of the Massachusetts Senate race had dealt a blow not just to the administration's health care initiative, but to the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure that national labor leaders had called their top priority in the new administration.

The proposal, also known as "card check," is designed to make it easier for unions to organize new workplaces. In its original version, one key provision -- a lightning rod for its critics -- would have recognized a union's right to negotiate a contract if a majority of workers signed cards affirming their desire to be represented. That could have supplanted the current requirement for a secret ballot election.

Among other labor law reforms, the bill would have created an arbitration system for contracts when management and newly recognized bargaining units fail to reach timely agreement on a new contract.

The measure has been intertwined with Mr. Specter's remarkable political year. In the last Congress, he was the only Republican senator who voted to have it considered on the Senate floor. Last March, while still a Republican, the incumbent sought to counter conservative criticism in announcing that he would oppose the bill. That was only weeks before his stunning decision to switch to the Democratic Party. In the face of fierce union lobbying to back the measure, he has said that he was working with other senators to craft a compromise bill that would attract the 60 votes needed for passage. That was a legislative challenge even before the loss of the Kennedy seat in Massachusetts as several conservative Democrats had indicated that they would not support the bill's original language.

In September, as he addressed the AFL-CIO's national convention in Pittsburgh, Mr. Specter expressed confidence a that a compromise version would be enacted, one that preserved the secret ballot in organizing election.

On Monday, as he showcased the support of several union locals in news conference in the Uptown headquarters of the Laborers' District Council of Western Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter said that things had changed.

While Mr. Specter appeared pessimistic about the bill's chances, officials at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- which vehemently opposes the bill -- said they still expect a floor vote.

"The unions have asked the majority leader for floor time," said Glenn Spencer, who directs the chamber's anti-EFCA efforts. "They want to push the bill onto the floor and take a head count of who's with them and who's against them."

Mr. Spencer spoke yesterday on a conference call to tout a new poll conducted by the chamber, which, he said, showed that 61 percent of nationwide respondents oppose EFCA -- with 48 percent saying they strongly oppose.

Of those polled, 52 percent said they oppose making it easier for workers to unionize in general and 61 percent opposed a compromise provision advocated by Mr. Specter on contract negotiations in which an arbitrator selects the "last best offer" of either management or the union.

Mr. Specter's campaign announcement yesterday was the latest in a string of endorsements he has received in his battle for the Democratic nomination against Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Delaware County. In the GOP primary, former Rep. Pat Toomey is regarded as the favorite in a race with Johnstown activist Peg Luksik.

The announcement came as new campaign contribution reports showed that Mr. Toomey had raised more money than Mr. Specter in the final quarter of 2009.

"We're still way ahead of Toomey on fundraising," Mr. Specter told reporters afterward while acknowledging that conservative candidates across the country had benefitted from "a lot of energy" among conservative voters and donors in recent months.

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