Thanks in large part to the efforts of union volunteers
around
the country, working families won a strong victory on
Nov. 4,
electing a stronger pro-worker majority of senators and
representatives.
However, winning an election isn't the end of the fight.
Now,
our elected leaders need to tackle the worst economic
crisis
since the Great Depression. They have to keep their
promises to
the people who voted for them, and we have to give them
the
support they need to make the tough choices. We need an
economic
recovery package that will turn around this broken
economy for
working families with good jobs, green jobs,
re-regulation of our
financial system and health care that works for all of
us. But
no matter what else we do, it won't result in real
shared
prosperity unless we restore workers - freedom to form
unions so
they can bargain for a better life with better wages and
benefits. That's what this proposed legislation, the
Employee
Free Choice Act, will do.
The Employee Free Choice Act will:
-- Put real teeth in the laws that are supposed to bar
companies
from intimidating, harassing - even firing - workers who
want to
form unions.
-- Allow workers to form their union when a majority
signs cards
indicating that's what they desire.
-- Require arbitration to end corporate foot-dragging
when
workers try to get a first contract.
The Employee Free Choice Act will level the playing
field that
today leaves all the power in the hands of corporations,
not
workers.
And Big Business and the front groups set up by
corporations are
preparing an all-out, $200 million propaganda and
lobbying war
to block it.
Unions have made passage of the Employee Free Choice Act
a top
priority for this year because it is the key to good
wages,
benefits, a voice in the workplace and the amplified
political
voice unions bring workers. In 2007, the U.S. House
passed the
measure and it had majority support in the Senate, but a
minority killed it with a filibuster, emboldened by
President
George W. Bush's promise to veto the legislation. Now we
have
elected a new Congress that has promised to be beside us
in this
fight and a president who has promised to sign the
Employee Free
Choice Act.
Here are the facts on why we need the Employee Free
Choice Act:
Working families are struggling. For too long, workers
haven't
had the power to get their fair share of the value they
create.
Workers are finding it harder and harder to stay in our
homes,
pay for our health care and save for our retirement. And
our
economy is suffering as a result.
Unions make people's lives better. The freedom to form
unions
and bargain for a better life is a basic human right,
and it
makes a difference: Union members make 30 percent more
than
workers who don't have unions. They're 59 percent more
likely to
have health benefits and four times more likely to have
pensions. That's real economic security. Communities
with strong
unions have higher standards of living for everyone.
But the system is broken. More than 60 million workers
who don't
have a union would join one if they could. But under
existing
law, corporations essentially have a veto over the
process. In
our company-dominated system, workers can be
intimidated,
coerced and even fired by their bosses for trying to
form a
union. A decision that should be in the hands of workers
is
instead in the hands of corporate executives.
Why union members should support the Employee Free
Choice Act.
The Employee Free Choice Act doesn't just matter for
workers who
are trying to form a union. When more workers are in
unions,
workers have the strength in numbers they need to demand
good
wages and good benefits across communities and
industries. That
helps all workers bargain for better contracts and
counterbalance corporate power.
The Employee Free Choice Act means long-term shared
prosperity.
The Employee Free Choice Act is essential to rebuilding
the
middle class and ensuring the survival of the American
Dream. We
can build an economy that works for everyone if workers
can
exercise the freedom to form unions.
