May 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said “card- check” legislation sought by labor unions doesn’t have enough Senate support to pass and only a revamped measure has a chance of getting through Congress.

“There may be areas of compromise to get this bill done,” Obama said today at a town hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “That’s what we’re working on.”

Right now, he said, “there aren’t enough votes in the Senate to get it passed.”

Obama reiterated support for the so-called card check legislation, formally known as Employee Free Choice Act. A key opponent, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, suggested in Washington that a deal on the measure may be possible.

The bill, which would allow workers to form a union when a majority signs cards requesting one rather than through a secret-ballot election, is a top priority for the unions that backed Obama and other Democratic candidates in the election. Business groups are opposed.

Labor officials say they are encouraged by Specter’s suggestion that a compromise may be in the works. Specter, who maintained opposition to the current bill last month when he switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, told the Associated Press that “prospects are pretty good” for negotiations to craft a bill that he could support.

Unions ‘Encouraged’

“We are encouraged that Specter acknowledged the current broken labor system and Pennsylvania workers will continue to make the case to him for why we need the Employee Free Choice Act,” said Eddie Vale, spokesman for the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest federation of unions.

The bill’s opponents, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, say it would strip workers’ right to a secret-ballot vote and potentially expose employees who don’t want a union to intimidation from labor officials.

Unions contend that anti-union management take advantage of a lengthy election process to wage a campaign against workers who want to organize.

The bill calls for tougher penalties on employers who intimidate workers who try to organize and provides for government arbitration should management and employees fail to agree on a first labor contract.

Specter has said he’s against the “card check” and arbitration provisions, though supports alternatives, such as speeding up the voting process.

Bill Opponents

The Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobbying group, had vowed to spend $20 million this year to kill the card-check bill. Companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. also are fighting the measure.

It has been opposition from some Democrats that has severely undercut prospects for passage. Several senators who previously backed the measure, including Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, have cited the recession as a reason they can’t support it now.

Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who is the bill’s chief sponsor, said last week the card-check part of the legislation would probably have to be dropped to win passage of the remaining provisions.

Earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden told union members that the economy can’t truly revive without strengthening organized labor and he urged lawmakers to pass the legislation.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at Kchipman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 14, 2009 18:34 EDT