semicolon or comma?

[cara1098]

Would this sentence use a semicolon or comma?

EFCA would not just make organizing easier, it would bring workers back into the process.

The use of "not only" or "not just" in setences like these seems to call for a comma, but I'm wondering if a semicolon is actually correct.

[LisaMc]

Use a comma. A semicolon can separate only two clauses that could each stand alone, and "EFCA would not just make organizing easier" can't.

[cara1098]

Thank you--that is what I thought, but I kept getting sentences like that with semicolons and started to question it.

[(sic) 'em]

Adding the "also" that's frequently missing always helps me with these constructions.

"EFCA would not just make organizing easier, it would also bring workers back into the process."

[editer]

The "also" is optional.

[Peter Fisk]

I agree with the advice given in this thread, but not all of the reasoning. I would classify both of the clauses as independent, but I still think the comma is the appropriate choice. (With apologies to my 8th-grade English teacher Mrs. Ferguson, wherever she is, and her lovingly rigid views on punctuation.)

[aparker54]

Shouldn't the sentence be either "The EFCA would not just make organizing easier, but also bring workers back into the process" or "Not only would the EFCA make organizing easier, it would also bring workers back into the process"? The structure as it stands seems flawed.