Stewart Acuff, Special Assistant to the President, AFL-CIO
Arlene Holt Baker, the first African-American executive officer of the
AFL-CIO and widely known civil rights leader, will join other national
labor, civil rights, and faith leaders in an historic march and rally this
Saturday, July 11 in Little Rock, Ark.
National Electrical Workers President Ed Hill, Communications Workers of
America Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Reichenbach, Steelworkers National
President Leo Gerard, and soon-to-be National AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka
will lead hundreds of union and faith and civil rights activists in the
first of its kind demonstration in Little Rock on July 11.
Early that Saturday morning workers will begin caravaning from all over
Arkansas to meet at Central High School in Little Rock at 1 pm. There, they
will remember the sacrifices and contribution of the Little Rock 9 to
freedom for all people in America. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene
Holt Baker and others will draw the parallels between America’s civil
rights struggle and workers rights struggles today. Just as the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the doors to greater
freedoms for African-Americans, the Employee Free Choice Act will open the
door for workers to freely form unions and bargain collectively.
Soon-to-be AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Steelworker President Leo
Gerard and Electrical Workers Preisdent Ed Hill will call on Arkansas’
Congressional Delegation including Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln
to support and vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Then, led by Arkansas ministers, the assembled hundreds will march to the
State Capitol area for another rally featuring local faith leaders such as
Rev. Steve Copley and local elected leaders in an even louder call for
Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor to vote for the Employee Free Choice
Act.
After the second rally the marchers will gather at the Arkansas Education
Association for an old-fashioned Arkansas catfish fry.
The Employee Free Choice Act, expected to move in the US Senate soon with
the seating of new Minnesota Senator Al Franken, will restore workers
freedom to form unions and bargain collectively by streamlining the process
for union formation, creating serious penalties on corporations that violate
the law, and allowing for arbitration to settle first contract disputes.
The support of Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor are essential for
the bill’s passage.
USW
Rapid Response:
Leading the Way on the Employee Free Choice Act!
The Employee Free Choice
Act is at a critical point. A majority of lawmakers in the House and Senate
are supportive. The President is willing to sign it into law. But,
in the Senate, a process exists to talk a bill to death – “the
filibuster” – and a Republican-led effort to kill the bill through this
process is planned. To stop a filibuster, 60 votes are needed. We
are just short of that goal.
As disappointed as we
are with the Senators who have not stepped up in this fight, we are not
letting up for a minute.
USW Activists in Key
States Working Hard
Right now, USW members
are continuing to keep up the pressure. In places like Pennsylvania,
Arkansas and California, USW members are being asked to take action again and
again to target those Senators who haven’t yet given their support for the
Employee Free Choice Act. This fight is coming down to a few key places
across the country.
Senators Meeting to
Address Issues; Vote Could Occur Within Weeks
While we’re working on
the ground, there is a group of Senators meeting to look at alternatives to
the bill. We don’t know what the outcome of these talks will produce,
but we remain committed to passing real labor law reform. Senator
Harkin, who is leading this fight as Senator Kennedy deals with health issues,
has vowed to either find a solution that works to get to 60 votes, or force
those unsupportive Senators to take a vote on the original measure. This
way, we know where they stand come election time. Either way, the vote
could occur this summer, possibly within weeks.
As this situation
continues to play out, we will keep you posted on any major developments.
Thank you to everyone for being so diligent over the years on this issue.
And, for those of you in key states, thank you for continuing to fight for all
of us for justice in the workplace.
America's Future Conference:
Restore the Middle Class with Employee Free Choice
By: James Parks, June 1, 2009 AFL-CIO News
Robert
Borosage, co-director of Campaign for America’s Future,
kicks off the America’s Future Now conference.
The nation’s economy is in a tailspin, and one of the best
ways to help turn it around is by passing theEmployee
Free Choice Act, several speakers said this morning at a national
gathering of progressive leaders.
Sponsored by Campaign
for America’s Future, the previously titled “Take Back America”
annual conference has been renamed “America’s Future Now” to emphasize
that this could be the greatest period of progressive reform since the 1960s.
Opening the three-day
conference in Washington, D.C., Robert Borosage, co-director of the
Campaign for America’s Future, told participants the Employee Free Choice
Act is
essential to insuring that the blessings of the next
prosperity will be widely shared, that the American middle class will
expand, not decline, and that the progressive majority will be consolidated.
(Click here to read
more news and views from the America’s Future Now conference. You also can
listen to the conference sessions live on BlogTalk Radio here.)
Economist Robert
Kuttner and Jared
Bernstein, economic adviser to Vice President Biden and chief of staff of
the White House Middle
Class Task Force, echoed Borosage’s support for the Employee Free Choice
Act during a panel on the economy.
Kuttner says the best ways to restore the economy start with
passing the Employee Free Choice Act, increasing the minimum wage and creating
an industrial policy “so the promise of clean energy becomes a jobs and
energy policy.”
Bernstein agreed, saying unions are the key to making sure
that as the economy grows, the benefits are distributed equitably. He quoted Biden,
who told the AFL-CIO Building and
Construction Trades Department conference recently:
We can’t achieve a strong middle class without a strong
labor movement.
The election of Obama and a Democratic Congress is a big step
in the right direction, Borosage said, but it’s up to progressives to make
sure our leaders enact the right kinds of policies.
These next years could witness the greatest period of
progressive reform since the 1960s. The choices we make are likely to set
the framework for our society, our economy and even our survival for
decades.
That’s why the Obama administration’s approach to the
financial crisis is so important and wrong, Kuttner said. Obama’s banking
and mortgage rescue plans are helping the wrong people—those who created the
financial crisis, he said. Instead, those plans should be helping people who
are facing foreclosure and helping to reform the entire banking system.
Progressives must define an agenda, articulate it and fight
for it, Kuttner said. According to Bernstein, one of the big items on that
agenda should be stronger regulation of financial markets. When no one is
paying attention to unfettered free markets, the result is bad policies, he
said.
The financial crisis is an example of free markets gone wild,
said another panelist, Georgetown University law professor Emma Coleman
Jordan. She pointed out the double standard of the government putting billions
into the financial industry without demanding the same kind of accountability
and business plan that the auto companies were required to have.
Jordan said the disastrous management practices of Wall Street
and the automakers will not change as long as the same management that created
the problem is still in charge. She called for the Obama administration to
force changes in the CEOs and boards of directors at financial institutions
that accept federal funds just as it has at General Motors. Otherwise, she
said:
It’s like giving massive infusions of blood into a rotting
corpse and expecting it to raise up.
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The
Nation, summed up the panelists’ views, saying the economic crisis
demands bold action and bold ideas, not just the same old policies of
rewarding the rich. Or as Kuttner put it:
This president could transform our economy and our politics.
President Obama needs to demonstrate that he is getting his program into
high gear and creating an economy that works for the people.
Employee
Free Choice Act levels the playing field
May 17, 2009
The Employee Free Choice
Act receives a lot of press. Despite all of the attention, I'm not sure the
public truly understands what obstacles workers face when they try to form a
union.
Here's a pretty accurate description: Imagine a football game between one
team with cleats, helmets and shoulder pads playing another who doesn't have
any equipment at all. It's not only that companies have all kinds of
advantages, but also that workers are so vulnerable to abuse. The Employee
Free Choice Act will help even the playing field.
I've been through two organizing campaigns, and I hope my experience will
explain why we desperately need this legislation.
For 24 years, I've worked at a plant in Hampton where we manufacture parts
for airplanes. Over the years, we've steadily fallen behind. I now make $2
an hour less in real wages than I did 24 years ago. The company no longer
provides fully paid health coverage. Retirees' pensions are not enough to
live on. Sadly, too many who should be enjoying time with their grandkids
are instead coming back to work as temps without any benefits.
I asked our managers, "What would you
do if you were in my shoes? What would you do if you didn't have medical
benefits when you retired, if your pay wasn't keeping up and your insurance
premiums were constantly rising?" My bet was that they'd do what we did
and try to form a union.
So we began forming a union with the United Steelworkers. The company fought
back with a flood of misinformation and intimidation. At the beginning of
each shift, the company held meetings where it bashed the union. We were up
against consultants who coached our supervisors on what to say.
As the election approached,the company held mandatory meetings every other
day where anti-union propaganda was forced down our throats. Although
two-thirds of us signed cards authorizing the union as our bargaining agent,
after two months of the campaign against the union, we lost.
When your livelihood is at stake, fear is a powerful weapon. The company won
by threatening that the plant could close and our jobs could be shipped
overseas. Hearing that "this could happen" or "that could
happen" eventually ran its course.
The company made promises that things would improve. It said, "Just
trust us, we'll look after you. You don't need a union."
Nothing has changed, though. We're still living paycheck to paycheck, and
our retirees are still just scraping by.
After the election, I was suspended without pay for two weeks. The union
took my case to the National Labor Relations Board, and I was awarded back
pay. The company also had to post a notice in the cafeteria explaining what
it did. This is considered adequate punishment for breaking the law.
I'm one of roughly 31,000 cases in 2005 when management illegally
threatened, coerced or fired a worker. In my experience (and clearly I'm not
the only one), corporations have the power and they often abuse it.
Management accused me of trying to destroy the company. That's not what I
want at all. I see workers mistreated by a corporation that doesn't seem to
care about them. I see blatant favoritism. I see what low morale is doing. I
want to improve what I see in the plant and improve the company as a result.
We're still trying to fight for a union, because in exchange for years of
hard work, we want a chance to bargain for livable wages and benefits. But
more importantly, we want dignity, respect and a voice at work.
There's a saying that workers can either bargain collectively or beg
individually. I'm scared that because of the economy, workers will be less
likely to stand up individually. They'll believe they're lucky to have a
job, and they'll accept whatever corporations throw at them. With the
economy teetering on the edge, this is the time to empower workers.
Over the last 60 years, and especially during the last 30, our labor laws
have been whittled away. Now is the time to modernize them, to even the
playing field and allow workers the opportunity to organize — if that's
what they choose. We simply can't stand by as corporate America flexes its
muscle and tries to defeat a bill that restores fundamental rights to
workers.
Card Check and Gut Check
By Harold Meyerson
Thursday, May 14, 2009
If our nation was governed by business's version of democratic
choice, we would hold elections to determine the winner, but nearly half the
time the incumbent would remain in power even if he lost.
In its campaign to derail the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA),
business has fearlessly depicted itself as the defender of elections and the
secret ballot as well as the foe of the dread "card check" -- the
process, championed by unions and included within EFCA, that would allow
workers to sign union affiliation cards rather than compelling them to go
through a ratification election in which harassment and firings of workers are
all too common.
But the kind of democratic choice that business favors is
choice without consequence -- a position made clear by its opposition to the
other key component of EFCA: binding arbitration between company and union if
they've been unable to agree on a contract within 120 days of a union winning
the election. A study
of first-contract negotiations by John-Paul Ferguson and Thomas A. Kochan of
MIT's Sloan School of Management makes clear why such arbitration is needed.
After surveying 22,000 unionization campaigns between 1999 and 2004, the
authors found that even after a majority of workers voted for a union, they
actually reached a contractual agreement with management (which is currently
under no legal obligation to come to an agreement) only 56 percent of the
time.
Heads, management wins. Tails, the employees lose.
It's a lovely system for businesses that don't want to pay
higher wages or accord their workers some rights, and they've been fighting
hard to keep it that way. They've managed for now to cow some cowable
Democratic senators, which is why Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin, who is trying to
steer EFCA through the Senate, is negotiating with a number of his colleagues.
"It's a moving target," Harkin says.
That it's moving at all is the result of Arlen Specter's hop
from Republican to Democratic ranks, which has compelled Specter to look to
his left instead of his right to see where his next opponent is coming from.
Just as the threat of defeat in next year's Republican primary concentrated
Specter's mind and sped him out of the GOP, so the threat of a union-backed
opponent in the Democratic primary -- spurred by Democrats' bewilderment and
anger at Specter's post-conversion opposition to the president's budget, his
cheering on the spectral candidacy of Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman and
his opposition to card check -- has prodded Specter to find some middle ground
on reforming labor law. (It takes a rare talent to alienate not just the party
you're leaving but also the party you're joining, yet Specter's been up to the
task.)
Labor, Harkin and his fellow liberals are willing to make
changes to EFCA to win the support of their Democratic colleagues, so long as
those changes don't perpetuate management's ability to avoid unionization by
threatening workers and refusing to negotiate contracts. Accordingly, the
scramble is underway for modifications to card check and binding arbitration
that still meet labor's goals.
Rather than give the arbitrator the right to impose a
contract, some senators, Specter among them, have expressed interest in a form
of arbitration used in baseball to settle contract disputes. In a baseball
arbitration, the union and management submit their proposed contracts to the
arbitrator, who tries to get them to narrow their differences, asks for their
final offers and chooses the one he finds more reasonable.
Among the suggested alternatives to card check are proposals
to shorten the currently open-ended period between the request for election
and the actual vote (today, management can stall a vote almost indefinitely)
and to allow workers to vote by mailing their ballots to the National Labor
Relations Board in Washington, which (like absentee voting) would preserve the
secret ballot but enable workers to escape the regimen of threats they often
encounter in the weeks preceding an election.
If, after all the negotiations, Harkin and the unions conclude
that the only bill that's enactable in this congressional session is too
watered down to protect workers trying to unionize, they would, understandably
enough, not want it to go forward. In that case, why don't the Democrats just
put the original bill -- card check, binding arbitration and all -- to a vote
and see which of their members choose to go on record against protecting those
workers? If Specter and his fellow waverers wish to avoid that vote and the
wrath it would incur among their onetime union backers, they'd do well to
support the alternative provisions that restore Americans' rights in the
workplace.
It's about democracy and rights, not secret elections
By Jon Geenen
Posted: Mar. 12, 2009
The American business community is pulling together to ensure that
workers' democratic rights in the workplace are preserved. In fact, they
are spending millions and millions of dollars on behalf of the workers
whose rights they seek to protect. What?
The absurdity of this is obvious. These are the same people who have
fought every initiative to increase minimum wage. These are the people who
provided unwavering support of NAFTA and other offshoring efforts that
have decimated our manufacturing base. These are the people who worked
tirelessly to defeat new health and safety regulations and environmental
efforts related to cleaner water and air and safer chemicals, not to
mention their vehement opposition to health care reform.
The American business community claims there is a travesty associated
with the Employee Free Choice Act, and they are right. But the travesty
has nothing to do with secret ballots. Like the master illusionist
creating an act of prestidigitation, corporate America is undermining
democracy, while at the same time pretending to be its biggest defender in
the workplace.
The media efforts and the unlimited money provide a glimpse to the
general public about how far corporations will go and how much they will
spend to prevent workers from organizing a union. To be sure, their
"democracy campaign" is a textbook strategy straight out of the
union-busters handbook, complete with intensive misinformation campaigns,
threats of plant closures, doom and gloom and the ostracizing and
isolation of pro-union workers as un-American or out of sync with their
peers. This time, rather than doing it to a worker in a plant, they are
doing it to the general public.
The corporate-funded campaign attacks EFCA as undemocratic and warns
that if passed into law, workers would lose access to a secret ballot
election as a way to determine majority status for union representation.
There is one problem with that. Workers absolutely would be entitled to a
secret ballot election under EFCA.
EFCA would not prohibit or otherwise limit the use of the secret
ballot. What it would do is say that the decision for workers about how
and whether to form a union is a decision that is left workers - not to
their bosses.
These opponents also would have you believe that somehow signing your
name on a card to indicate your interest in a union is somehow a new or
novel approach to organizing. There is a problem with this, too. That is
how it works today and, for the most part, how it has worked since the
1930s. In order for workers to gain collective bargaining rights, workers
always have had to demonstrate majority support. Signing cards or
providing signatures is the first step in forming a union.
So what really would change with EFCA? Employees alone would decide how
to show majority status in a unionization campaign. Why does corporate
America really care? Because their ability to "intervene"
becomes limited. You see, even though many progressive employers recognize
unions by the card check method today, those that don't know that by
demanding a National Labor Relations Board election, they gain 42 precious
days to run an anti-union campaign where they can fire, demote, coerce,
threaten and intimidate workers with little consequence and effectively
block workers' attempts to (ironically) democratize the workplace. Under
EFCA, employees would be more likely to have made that decision before the
boss finds out, making the matter a decision for workers and workers alone
as the Wagner Act originally envisioned.
Unfortunately, business knows what we all know: that except for the
small minority of people who are simply philosophically opposed to unions,
the rest of us believe, whether we belong to a union or not, that the
right to unionize is a critical component of a democratic society.
Democracy does not and cannot exist where strong and independent trade
unions do not exist. In our country, the rise and fall of personal rights
and liberty have paralleled the rise and fall of the labor movement. Why?
Because the labor movement is a unique social movement that lends its
voice to all working families, uniting the masses. This is what corporate
America fears but doesn't dare say - because that truly would be
undemocratic.
The so-called democracy card is simply a red herring.
Jon Geenen of Kaukauna is an international vice president with the
United Steelworkers.
From
the 'PROGRESS REPORT' March 11, 2009
Fighting
For Free Choice
Yesterday,
the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier
for workers to form unions and diminish management's ability to intimidate
and dissuade workers from unionization, was introduced in the House and Senate.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the lead sponsor in the Senate, heralded the bill:
"Today is one
of those defining moments in history as we introduce legislation that puts
power back into the hands of the people who are truly the backbone of this
economy." His counterpart in the House, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), was
equally enthusiastic. "If we want a fair and sustainable recovery from this
economic crisis, we must give workers the ability to stand up for themselves and
once
again share in the prosperity they help to create," Miller said.
Indeed, unions are a key part of bolstering the middle class. Unionized
workers earn
11.3 percent ($2.26 dollars per hour) more than non-union workers with
similar characteristics, and are more likely to have health care. For example,
"in March 2006, 80 percent of union workers in the private sector had jobs
with employer-provided health insurance, compared
with only 49 percent of nonunion workers." EFCA also has the strong
backing of President Obama and his Labor Secretary, Hilda
Solis. Campaigning last year, Obama said it was time to "stand up to
the business lobby" that has been blocking EFCA, declaring, "If a
majority of workers want a union, they
should get a union. It's that simple."
RIGHT-WING
LOBBYING CAMPAIGN: The bill, which has been called "a
power struggle among labor unions and businesses," has fueled an
enormous opposition campaign led by big business. The Chamber of Commerce --
along with other anti-union allies, will
spend $200 million to defeat the bill -- flew in more than 200 Chamber
members to
Washington
yesterday to lobby Congress, in what it dubbed the "Workforce Freedom
Airlift." The business leaders were praised "as the 'first
Marines hitting the beach' to defeat a 'job killer' of a bill that would
violate American democracy and bring further ruin on a beleaguered
economy." Chamber President Thomas Donahue told the group, "You've got
to go up and tell them what will happen [if the bill passes], that no one is
going to add a single job in the
United States
." The Chamber -- which has called EFCA a "firestorm
bordering on Armageddon" -- is also launching TV
and print advertisements to pressure wavering legislators, and "will
likely host a second round of guest advocates in April." Other business
leaders are using similarly apocalyptic terms; a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. said EFCA would "effectively
eliminate freedom of choice and the right to a secret-ballot election."
Yesterday, Citigroup downgraded
its rating of Wal-Mart stock from buy to hold over "concern" about
EFCA. "It's hard to view this as anything other than a
reckless and overt political act on the part of a company, Citigroup, that
has made stupendously bad business decisions," Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher
wrote.
MEDIA EMBRACES FAR-RIGHT DISTORTIONS: Big
Business' anti-union campaign has effectively influenced Hill conservatives'
rhetoric. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called the bill "a
threat to one of the fundamentals of democracy," while Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called it "an
outrageous proposal" that would "fundamentally harm America and
Europeanize America." These anti-union tropes are also constantly repeated
by the media. Fox News' Chris Wallace adopted the right-wing framing earlier
this year, stating that "Big Labor's top priority is what's called union
card check, and that would be eliminating
the right to a secret ballot." Despite the fact that the "secret
ballot" canard has
been endlesslydebunked,
media outlets continuetopush
the misconception.
On Fox News, Forbes' Mike Ozanian called EFCA
a "pro-slavery bill", while his coworker John Rutledge said the
bill is "a gestapo tactic." Fox's Glenn Beck likened the bill to
"tyrannies
and socialism." Fox has also allowed "economists"
and commentators
to slam EFCA on air without noting their ties to industry groups that oppose the
bill. The right insists that union bosses are intimidating
workers, when in fact the evidence
shows that it
is the employer who most often threatens and pressures workers over
unionization
PROGRESSIVE SUPPORT NEEDED IN CONGRESS: The all-out assault against
unions may turn some Congress members away from supporting the bill. EFCA
"was introduced with 223 co-sponsors in the House and 40 in the Senate.
That is less
support than it attracted in the last Congress, even though Democrats now
hold more seats in both chambers. In 2007, EFCA had 230 co-sponsors on its day
of introduction in the House and 46 in the Senate." In fact, 11
Democratic senators who were co-sponsors in 2007 have refused to sign on to
this year's version, including Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Jim Webb (D-VA), Evan
Bayh (D-IN), and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). "At least six Senators who have
voted to move forward with the so-called card-check proposal, including one
Republican, now
say they are opposed or not sure." Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
called the bill "distracting." "I
have 90,000 Arkansans who need a job, that's my No. 1 priority," she
said. Of course, along with low union rates, workers
in her state have some of the
lowest average wages in the nation. What's more, that the Center for
Economic and Policy Research estimates that the passage of EFCA would allow more
than 14,000
Arkansas workers to receive health insurance and more than 11,000 to receive
pensions. Yet Harkin maintains that the bill will pass. "By the time we
bring it up [for a vote], we
will have 60 votes," he said yesterday, adding "that he's hoping
for a vote shortly after the Easter recess." However, Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said yesterday that passage depends on whether
"the Republicans would cooperate with us just a little bit," adding, "Otherwise,
we'll
have to wait until after the August recess."
March 12, 2009
Employee Free Choice Act Introduced
The Employee Free Choice Act was introduced into the current
Congress this week! The bill
numbers are S. 560 for the Senate and H.R. 1409 for the House
of Representatives. It already has a
strong showing of support with 40 original cosponsors in the
Senate and 223 in the House.
Are your Members of Congress on the bill?
Visit the Rapid Response Website at www.uswrr.org
Note: the House bill is bipartisan with three Republican
cosponsors.
Right now is the best chance we’ve had in years to finally
pass this bill into law. When we win, we’ll
have taken a major step in delivering the kind of reform our
economy desperately needs. That’s
because when workers can bargain, we ALL do better. Many
religious, community, human rights and
other organizations realize this fact, and they’re joining
us in our fight against the angry anti-union
lobby and their corporate allies, who are dead-set against
this legislation.
Through your efforts on the Employee Free Choice Act you have:
•
Collected over 120,000 postcards
in support of the bill. Many of those have been delivered to
Members of Congress already, with more card-delivery events
scheduled,
•
Carried out two national
petition actions that delivered well over 100,000 signatures of support,
•
Conducted multiple national
call-in days that generated tens of thousands of phone calls,
•
Traveled to Washington, DC to
rally,
•
Held meetings in Congressional
offices across the country,
•
Written countless letters,
•
Published letters to the editor,
•
Faxed messages of support,
•
Emailed new Members of Congress,
•
Attended rallies,
•
Staged demonstrations,
•
Taken part in dozens of targeted
actions designed to get fence-sitters to support the bill, and
•
Led the labor movement in
advancing this bill!
We’re almost there! Please keep up the great work, and let’s
get this bill into law!
USW Rapid Response
? (412)
562-2291 ? http://www.uswrr.org
Does America Still Need Labor Unions?
February 22, 2009
as per the PARADE MAGAZINE 'Intelligence Report'
The Employee Free Choice Act, or “Card Check” for short, is one of the
most controversial measures Congress faces this year. The bill—first
introduced in the Senate in 2007 by Ted Kennedy and co-sponsored by
then-Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden—would make it easier for workers to
join unions and would tighten penalties for employers who try to stop them.
Supporters such as Human Rights Watch and the NAACP say the bill provides
important protections for the middle class. Opponents like the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and the National Restaurant Association say it increases labor costs
and hurts the bottom line. Both sides have spent millions on lobbyists and
advertising to make their case.
With only 12% of American workers in unions, why should the rest of us care?
Professor Clete Daniel, a labor expert at Cornell University, says a revived
labor movement could benefit workers both in and out of unions. “ There is
definitely a need for forces that promote a fairer sharing of wealth,” he
says, noting that the gap between America’s rich and poor is the largest
it’s been since 1928. Over the last 75 years, unions helped secure benefits
like unemployment insurance, Social Security, and the 40-hour workweek.
Others contend that unions have outlived their usefulness. “The workplace is
much better today,” says Michael Eastman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“Employers know they need to offer certain benefits and good wages to keep
good workers.”
Professor Daniel says Card Check likely would not increase union membership
until the economy improves, since workers are currently more concerned about
job security than wages and benefits. “ Today, most workers are too fearful
to take a risk for unions,” he adds.
— Lyric Wallwork Winik
The US HOUSE PASSED THE ACT....THE SENATE
FILIBUSTERs THE BILL AND IT WAS WITHDRAWN.
Soon our legislators will be voting on
whether workers may have the right to choose their own standard of life via
their choice of organizing and joining a Union in their workplace.
I’m sure you are aware that our
country is suffering from the effects of the worst financial tragedy since the
Great Depression.No matter how hard
we work or how many hours we put in, working families are struggling to make
ends meet.Our wages are dropping,
our health care costs continue to rise and our pensions are disappearing – in
all actuality, our American Dream is
disappearing.
One of the problems is that many times
workers are harassed and intimidated when they choose to form a union.Some are forced to attend anti-union meetings, or questioned by
supervisors behind closed doors.Sometimes
they are threatened that their workplace will close or move.If this isn’t enough, many of them are even fired for being a Union
Supporter!
Unions are an asset to our economy.Through collective bargaining, the workers unite as a voice for better
wages, “quality” health insurance, guaranteed defined-benefit pension plans,
etc.Unfortunately, some employers
find it necessary to harass and intimidate workers who seek to form a union.It’s not out of the ordinary for workers to be forced into a
company-dominated process; one that includes repeated anti-union
captive-audience meetings, closed door interrogation by supervisors, threats
that their workplace will close or move, and the firing of union supporters.If this is not enough, the current law enables employers to create
lengthy postponement of union a contract.
So that we can live the
American Dream once again, I’m urging you to help contact our Senators and
Representatives to join with many of their house members in Congress who are
voting for and Co-Sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act.
We have until the end of March to deliver 3,000+ letters in
The Honorable Walt Minnick's hands in his House Office. Walt says that with
this many letters he can tell his "Republican" constituents that he
must support this bill and vote to regain the ability to make a choice for the
Unions future in the workplace. Tell Him not only to vote for the Employee Free Choice
Act; but sign-on as a Co-Sponsor to the bill... Other congressman may
follow Representative Minnick's decision.
Below are links to Idaho's Senators and Representatives to
be able to write them... Nothing has more impact than a hand written letter from
a constituent... nearly 10 to 1 over a form letter or even a phone call.
WRITE WALT AND THE OTHER IDAHO CONGRESSMEN TODAY... This bill
needs to pass to ensure workers rights in the future.
Idaho Residents are represented in the US
Congress by 2-Senators and 2-Representatives
COPY AND PASTE /PRINT LETTERS BELOW TO SEND TO
THE ADDRESSES FROM THE ABOVE LIST...Or copy and past into above emails.
Letter
No. 1
Dear
Congressman,
Thank you in advance for
your time.My purpose in writing is
to ask you to vote for and co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act bill in
Congress this session.
I’m sure you are aware
that our country is suffering from the effects of the worst financial tragedy
since the Great Depression.No
matter how hard we work or how many hours we put in, working families are
struggling to make ends meet.Our
wages are dropping, our health care costs continue to rise and our pensions are
disappearing – in all actuality, our American
Dream is disappearing.
I believe the answer for
working families to get a head is to have the freedom to form unions and
collectively bargain for better living standards – it’s a basic human right.If workers can exercise the freedom to form unions, with our employers
help we can rebuild an economy that will work for everyone.
Unions are an asset to
our economy.Through collective
bargaining, the workers unite as a voice for better wages, “quality” health
insurance, guaranteed defined-benefit pension plans, etc.Unfortunately, some employers find it necessary to harass and intimidate
workers who seek to form a union.It’s
not out of the ordinary for workers to be forced into a company-dominated
process; one that includes repeated anti-union captive-audience meetings, closed
door interrogation by supervisors, threats that their workplace will close or
move, and the firing of union supporters.If
this is not enough, the current law enables employers to create lengthy
postponement of union a contract.
Please consider the
Employee Free Choice Act and sign on as a Co-Sponsor to pass this bill – it
will be a solution to the problem my family, as well as most families faces
today.
Thank you for your time
and support.
Letter
No. 2
Dear Congressman,
I’m writing to ask for your
vote, as well as sign on as a Co-Sponsor for the Employee Free Choice Act Bill.
It seems like no matter how hard people work, they still struggle to make ends
meet for their families.Even though
they work hard, they still receive poor wages.Healthcare costs continue to rise to a point that they cannot even afford
to cover and protect their family.
Unions help workers be giving them a voice for better wages, “quality”
health insurance, pension plans, job safety, etc.I believe people have a right to be able to form a union and collectively
bargain for a better living.
One of the problems is that
many times workers are harassed and intimidated when they choose to form a
union.Some are forced to attend
anti-union meetings, or questioned by supervisors behind closed doors.Sometimes they are threatened that their workplace will close or move.If this isn’t enough, many of them are even fired for being a Union
Supporter!
Again, because the Employee Free Choice Act is the solution to the problem our
economy faces, I’m asking for you to support this bill and sign on as a
Co-Sponsor.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Letter
No. 3
Dear Congressman,
I’m asking for you to sign on
as a Co-Sponsor and vote for the Employee Free Choice Act bill.
I’m a Union member currently
and am very aware of how the unions help lift the economy standards in our
community.Because I do have a voice
and am able to collectively bargain, I have higher wages, “
“quality” Health care, and a guaranteed defined pension plan.I’m confident that if I were not for my union, I would not have these
same benefits.I believe that the
ability to form a union and collectively bargain is a basic
human right for everyone’ – one that helps us afford to take care of our
families better.
There are issues that stand in the way of exercising our right to form unions.Some employers find it necessary to harass and intimidate the workers
when they find out they want to join a union.Workers are forced to attend anti-union meetings, some are questioned by
supervisors behind closed doors, some receive threats that their workplace will
close or move, and then some are even fired for being a union supporter!
Again, I’m sure if it
weren’t for my Union standing up for me and bargaining for a better standard
of living, I would also be forded to join the many unfortunate people that must
hold more than one job to support their family.In this economy, we will be lucky to even find second or third jobs!
So that we can live the
American Dream once again, I’m urging you to join with many of your members in
Congress who are voting for and Co-Sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act.
Thank you for your time.
Letter
No. 4
Dear Congressman,
Please, join with the many
members in Congress who are voting for and Co-Sponsoring the Employee Free
Choice Act.
I’m currently a union member
that has a voice when it comes to my standard of living.I appreciate and rely on this voice, and believe that every working
American should have that same right.
As I see it, the Employee Free
Choice Act gives workers another option on how they can opt for/or against
joining a union.The majority
sign-up option will allow workers to join a union when the majority indicates
that’s what they want.Having the
majority sign-up option does not take
away the secret-ballot option.It
only offers another choice on how to join – which should make the process for
workers to join more fair.
Again, I’m urging you to
support this bill by Co-Sponsoring and voting for the Employee Free Choice Act.
By doing so, your giving
workers a voice as to their standard of living – something we all need more
of.
Thanks for your time.
Letter
No. 5
Dear Congressman,
I am a Union Member and believe everyone should have
the right to belong to a union, if they so choose.With this in mind, I’m asking you to join many of your members in
Congress who are voting for and Co-Sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act.By doing so, it will fix a broken system by allowing a fair process for
workers to form a union.
With the Employee Free Choice
Act, there will be stronger penalties in force for those companies that choose
to harass, intimidate or fire union-supporting workers.Also, if the majority of the workers want a union, the union contract
will be negotiated much quicker.If
a union contract hasn’t been agreed upon after three months of negotiations, a
neutral third-party will help settle the contract.
Again, Please Vote “YES”
and support the Employee Free Choice Act by signing on as a Co-Sponsor.Help workers receive a better wage and have the benefits they need to
protect their families.
Thank you for your time.
Letter
No. 6
Dear Congressman,
With me being a Union member
over the past years, it has allowed my family to live the American Dream.I’ve been a witness to how the unions help people live a higher
standard of life, and how they give workers a voice when it comes to their work
standards.
Our economy is hurting more now
than I’ve seen in decades; which leads me to write and ask for your support
like many of your members of Congress have done, by voting and Co-Sponsoring the
Employee Free Choice Act.
The Employee Free Choice Act
will strengthen the penalties enforced upon the companies that find it necessary
to coerce or intimidate their employees who want to join a union.This harassment and intimidation is unacceptable and must stop.The workers who have been fired for showing union support have had their
rights stripped from them.The more
we allow this behavior to take place, the more we watch the American Dream slip
away.
Again, please supoort the
Employee Free Choice Act and sign on as a Co-Sponsor to help workers make a
living wage and have the benefits they need to protect their families.
Thank you for your time.
Letter
No. 7
Dear Congressman,
I’m a Union member who
strongly believes that unions make a positive difference in the communities in
which they exist.Because of this
belief, it leads me to write and ask for you to join in with many of your
members in Congress who are voting and Co-Sponsoring the Employee Free Choice
Act.
I think you would agree that
it’s unfair that workers can be harassed and intimidated into changing their
decision to join a union.These acts
are very strong.The Employee Free
Choice Act will strengthen the penalties to be enforced on the companies who
choose to do business in this manner; so, once again, I urge you to vote for and
Co-Sponsor the bill.
Thank
you for your time and consideration,
Letter
No. 8
Dear Congressman,
Because I believe Unions allow
for a better standard of living, I am asking you to Co-Sponsor and vote for the
Employee Free Choice Act – as many of your members in Congress have.
We continue to hear about the
CEO’s of companies who make millions in compensation packages (even when their
companies are failing and getting taxpayer bailouts); all while our middle-class
worker continues to disappear.Many
CEOs try to stop union organizing to prevent working people from getting their
fair share.Providing written
contracts to CEOs while fighting to prevent workers from enjoying the same
protection is a double standard.
Please take a stand to support
the Employee Free Choice Act and help the middle class workers receive their
fair share.’
Thank you for your time,
Letter
No. 9
Dear Congressman,
As your constituent, I am
counting on you to help restore our economy.Working families need secure jobs, health and retirement benefits and
fair wages.Whatever else we do to
help the economy; it won’t result in broadly shared, lasting prosperity unless
we also restore workers’ freedom to bargain with their employers for a better
life.
I urge you to Co-Sponsor and
vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Thank you for your time,
Letter
No. 10
Dear Congressman,
Please Co-Sponsor and vote for
the Employee Free Choice Act.In
these perilous economic times, we must restore workers’ freedom to bargain
with their employers for secure jobs, health care and retirement benefits and
fair pay.It’s time to rebuild
middle class and help struggling working families.
Thank you for your time,
Letter
No. 11
Dear Congressman,
Working families are struggling
in today’s economy.To turn things
around,
America
’s workers need the freedom to bargain with their employers for secure jobs,
health care and retirement benefits and fair play.The Employee Free Choice Act will restore that freedom and help us
rebuild the middle class.I’m
urging you to Co-Sponsor and vote for it.
Thank you for your time,
Letter
No. 12
Dear Congressman,
We need the Employee Free
Choice Act because the current system for forming unions and bargaining is
broken beyond repair.Corporations
routinely harass, intimidate, coerce and fire workers just because they want the
freedom to bargain for a better life – and even if companies get caught they
get little more than a slap on the wrist.This
is counter to intent of
U.S.
laws and must be changed be enacting the Employee Free Choice Act.
I’m urging you to vote for
and Co-Sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act.
Thank you for your time,
Letter
No. 13
Dear Congressman,
The Employee Free Choice Act
will restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain with their employers
for a better life.With our economy
in a freefall, working families need a fair chance to get ahead.Please put the American Dream back within reach of the working people by
co-sponsoring and voting for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Thank you for your time,
Employee Free Choice Act: Labor’s Top Priority,
But Roadblocks Remain
By
Mark Gruenberg
, PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Passage of the
Employee Free Choice Act, to help level the playing field between workers and
bosses in union organizing and in bargaining or first contracts, will be
labor’s top priority in the new 111th Congress, top AFL-CIO officials said.But roadblocks remain for the legislation.
One big problem will be the U.S.
Senate, where workers and their allies did not get the filibuster-proof 60-vote
majority they were shooting for.The
law, passé by the House in this Congress, was derailed by a Senate filibuster
led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.). a virulent Right Winger who
won re-election on Nov. 4.
Instead, unionists and their allies
gained at least half a dozen seats--not enough to break up the talkathons--with
one Senate race, in
Georgia
, headed for a runoff in December.That’s
because
Georgia
law says a senator must be elected with an absolute majority of the votes, and
minor-party candidates prevented anti-worker incumbent Saxby Chambliss (R) or
state Rep. Jim Martin (D) from achieving that.
Three other Senate races, including
those in
Minnesota
and
Alaska
, are still too close to call.So is
the question of whether Democratic nominee Barack Obama won
Missouri
--he leas by 6,000 votes--or
North Carolina
.
But another problem may be that
president-elect Obama and vice-president-elect Joseph Biden, both strong
supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act, will have other economic issues on
their platter first--and AFL-CIO leaders have not recently discussed EFCA’s
provisions and its scheduling with Obama’s team.
“We discussed how to win the
election, first,” Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said after the
federation’s post-election news conference on Nov. 5.
The Employee Free Choice Act would
help level the playing field between workers and bosses in union organizing and
in bargaining initial contracts.It
would write into labor law “s if
the employer agrees, and employers rarely do so, opening the way nasty, vicious
anti-union campaigns, featuring labor law-breaking, before the NLRB-run votes.Card check would virtually short-circuit such campaigns.
The Employee Free Choice Act would
also sharply increase penalties, to $20,000 per violation, for labor
law-breaking.It would make it
easier to get court orders against labor lawbreakers.And it would mandate binding arbitration between unions and bosses if
they cannot reach an initial contract within 120 days of starting talks.
Trumka, AFL-CIO President John J.
Sweeney and other union speakers emphasized the situation would change for the
law just because two of its supporters will be in the White House, as opposed to
anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush, who hates it, and unions.
“For the first time in eight years,
we have a president who supports workers’ rights,” federation Political
Director Karen Ackerman added.
“We must counterbalance corporate
power.The gap between the wealthy
and everyone else has grown from a gulf to a chasm under Bush,” Sweeney said.“We cannot rebuild the middle class and ensure that economic growth is
shared unless we give working people back the freedom to improve their lives
through unions and bargain for better wages and benefits.
“Workers in unions, after all, make
30% more than those without a union and there are much more likely to have
benefits.And so our top priority is
passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will restore
workers’ freedom to bargain for a better life.In an economy that gives corporations too much power, a union card
remains the single best ticket into the middle class,” Sweeney added.
But under questioning, Sweeney had no
schedule for its consideration in the new Congress.“We don’t have final races on all congressional races yet.And we’ll be strategizing about it based on that situation,” he said.He also admitted “we have to see what the final results are from the
Senate.”
“We’re a lot closer to passing it
than we were before the election, because candidates up and down the ballot
supported it,” added Legislative Director Bill Samuel.
Trumka said that every possible way
to get the legislation through Congress will be on the table.The Chamber of Commerce and other business groups spent a combined $60
million in an anti-EFCA drive, focused on key and close Senate races, in the
2008 campaign’s homestretch.They
have already made stopping it their top priority
“There are an infinite number of
strategies to get it passed and each one of them will have our complete
attention,” Trumka said.
###
Press Associates, Inc. (PAI)
MEDIA
ADVISORY FOR:
Wednesday,
February 4th, 2009
CONTACT:
Gary
Hubbard, 202-256-8125, Tim Waters 412-999-3587
Thousands
of Workers to Deliver More Than One Million Petitions to Congress
Kick-off
Event to Demonstrate Broad Support of the Employee Free Choice Act
(
Washington
,
DC
) — Thousands of workers from across the nation will
gather on Capitol Hill this Wednesday, February 4th, to hold a
massive petition delivery event urging passage of the Employee Free Choice
Act. Kicking off the delivery of 1.5 million signatures in support of the
legislation to members of Congress, activists from the nation’s unions and
progressive organizations will join workers to showcase the broad public
support for the bill.
Workers
will tell their personal stories about why the Employee Free Choice Act is
important to them, joined by two of the bill’s key leaders Senator Tom
Harkin (D-IA) and Representative George Miller (CA-7). United
Steelworkers’ International President Leo Gerard will emcee the event,
which will also feature Sierra Club President Allison Chin and others to be
determined. Afterward, workers will personally deliver the signatures to
their members of Congress on behalf of working families in their state,
encouraging them to support the bill.
This
kick-off event will be followed by an ongoing series of events in cities and
towns across the country to highlight the groundswell of support for the
Employee Free Choice Act as a key piece of creating an economy that works
for everyone again.
WHO:
Individual workers
Senator
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Representative George Miller (CA-7)
Leo W. Gerard, International President, United Steelworkers
Allison
Chin, President, Sierra Club
*Officers from a number of unions and federations will also be available*
WHAT:
Kick-off event to
deliver 1.5 million signatures
in support of the Employee Free Choice Act to members of the U.S. Congress.
WHEN:
Wednesday,
February 4th, 12:30pm EST
WHERE:
Upper
Senate
Park
(
Constitution Ave.
and
Delaware Ave. NE
)
Senate
are supportive. The President is willing to sign it into law. But,
in the Senate, a process exists to talk a bill to death – “the
filibuster” – and a Republican-led effort to kill the bill through this
process is planned. To stop a filibuster, 60 votes are needed. We
are just short of that goal. 
