From American Rights at Work:
A growing, bipartisan coalition of policymakers supports the Employee Free Choice Act, proposed legislation that would ensure that workers have a free choice and a fair chance to form a union. Simply put, the Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to once again choose to form unions without the fear of being fired.
The legislation would give workers a fair and direct path to form unions through majority sign-up, help employees secure a contract with their employer in a reasonable period of time, and toughen penalties against employers who violate their workers' rights.
Why is this bill so important? It's plain as day: workers are struggling in this country. Today's workplaces are tilted in favor of lavishly-paid CEOs, who get golden parachutes while middle-class families struggle to get by.
The Employee Free Choice Act can restore the balance, giving more workers a chance to form unions and get better health care, job security, and benefits – and an opportunity to pursue their dreams.
Corporate interests are fighting the Employee Free Choice Act with everything they've got. They're protecting the status quo – a rigged system which allows employers to intimidate, harass, and even fire workers who try to form a union. We're not talking about isolated incidents: 30 percent of employers fire pro-union workers during union organizing drives.
Protecting the right to form unions is about maintaining the American middle class. It’s no coincidence that as union membership numbers fall there are growing numbers of jobs with low pay, poor benefits, and little to no security. More than half of U.S. workers—60 million—say they would join a union right now if they could.
Why? They know that coming together to bargain with employers over wages, benefits, and working conditions is the best path to getting ahead. Workers who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than non-union workers, and are 63 percent more likely to have employer-provided health care. Without labor law reform, economic opportunity for America’s working families will continue to erode.
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
See Saw - TV Ad for the Employee Free Choice Act
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
This is a great step to reverse the many "right to work" laws enacted in many states. It has been proven that the "right to work" states have lower pay for similar jobs than states that do not have such laws.
First off, as a conservative, Christian Democrat at heart, I appreciate this site a great deal. Unfortunately, most of the Democrats who run in my area have abandoned the old Party notion that we should look out for the defenseless (like the unborn). So I appreciate the perspective here.
To the issue at hand, I consider myself moderately pro-union, and definitely think the decline in unions has contributed to the stagnation of working class wages. However, I still can't get over the notion of the sanctity of the secret ballot. The intimidation you refer to from employers cuts both ways, and I don't see how the EFCA would stop that. It seems to me that the true pro-worker position would be to ensure that he has the right to unionize without pressure or coercion from either side. That he can make a free decision. Surely you can see where card check opens the gates for union coercion and intimidation? I agree with the end result- more union representation, but I disagree with the means, abandoning the secret ballot.
Let me know what I'm missing here (sincerely).
1980-2007 was an ECONOMIC GOLDEN AGE where we lived through unparalleled years of economic bliss. Many people are now blaming the crisis on the "greed" of capitalism and corporations that were our greatest ally over the past 3 decades. The worst thing we can do is have a backlash against capitalism - the very thing that produced the best three economic decades in the history of the world!
Right now we are faced with an economic crisis similar to the Great Depression and the 1970s inflation crisis. They blamed those on too little government regulation too, but in reality they were causes more by too much bad government regulation.
Promoting Unions by removing Right to Work Laws probably falls into the camp of too much gov't regulation - I don't really know.
The one thing I do know is that we need to listen to guys like Steve Forbes - with vast experience in global markets. His new article hits the mark:
http://www.forbes.com/hcome/forbes/2008/1110/018.html
This article changed my perspective, and the info here is mostly taken from that article.
Lovely site. You never hear much about he conservative democrat ... I'll be coming back here again.
Post a Comment