It seemed like a shocking moment at first: Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet coming out in opposition Monday night to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a pivotal bill for the labor community whose support is critical for his party in tight elections.

But both business and labor leaders said Tuesday that the response — given during a Denver Post/9News debate — has done nothing to affect their opinion of Bennet or the way they view his stance on the issue.

EFCA, known as the “card-check” bill, would remove the secret-ballot provision from workplace unionization elections and allow employees to check a box on a card signifying that they would like to form a union.

It also would increase penalties against companies that interfere in union elections and require that any contract disputes not settled within 90 days go to binding arbitration.

Business groups denounce the bill as a job killer, saying it would lead to a rise in union intimidation of employees if the secret ballot is removed and would cause companies to put off expansion or move overseas to avoid the costs of dealing with unions.

Labor leaders say it is necessary to ensure that more workers get paid fair wages and to help bring back the disappearing middle class.

Bennet, the former Denver Public Schools superintendent appointed to a vacant Senate seat by Gov. Bill Ritter in January 2009, had managed to avoid taking a stance on the bill since being sworn into office. This drew criticism first from primary opponent Andrew Romanoff and later from Ken Buck, the Weld County district attorney and Republican nominee he faces in the general election.

On Monday, 9News political reporter Adam Schrager asked Bennet if he would support EFCA as it is currently written were it to come up for a vote.

Bennet’s response: “I believe strongly in the right of workers to collectively bargain free from intimidation, but I would not support the current language.”

Buck, as he’s done throughout the campaign, said he would not support the bill, either.

Some groups, such as the Coalition for Colorado Jobs, which has focused solely on candidates’ stances on EFCA, lauded the Democrat.

“We are very pleased to hear Senator Bennet — after months of silence — tell Colorado voters that he opposes the job-killing EFCA bill,” state director Sandra Hagen Solin said in a news release.

But other groups on both sides of the issue pointed out that the statement, if dissected carefully, is not a change from what Bennet has said so far.

Tony Gagliardi, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes EFCA, noted Bennet has said before that he supports some sort of compromise more than the current measure.

One prominently discussed compromise, which would maintain secret-ballot elections but speed them up greatly, would still benefit unions far more than businesses and tilt the playing field in their favor, Gagliardi said.

Bennet also told the Denver Business Journal that he believes senators should look for new bill language that would let them protect collective bargaining without the current amount of controversy that EFCA has generated.

“Let’s put this in perspective … Bennet finally came out and at least said he’s against the bill as it is written,” Gagliardi said. “While I would credit Senator Bennet with finally stepping up and saying he’s against the bill, it’s with the caveat that’s he’s spoken for a compromise.”

Meanwhile, AFL-CIO spokesman Matt Moseley called Bennet’s answer a “non-issue” for the labor union that has backed both him and the passage of EFCA. Bennet has always told labor leaders that he would work with them to find a compromise on the original bill, Moseley said, and his answer was right in line with that position.

“Consistently, Senator Bennet has told Colorado union leaders that he had concerns with the original language of the bill. However, he’s also consistently indicated to us that he would work to find a compromise should labor law changes come up in the state,” Moseley said. “We are behind Michael Bennet 100 percent.”