You may have seen some stories in the news over the weekend (like this one) describing a “middle ground” “compromise” proposal on the Employee Free Choice Act being floated by a group of retailers.
Pro-worker Members of Congress Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) explain in a joint statement explaining why this “compromise” proposal is nothing of the sort:
This proposal is unacceptable. It was written by CEOs for CEOs. It is not a serious attempt at labor law reform because it fails to fundamentally address key problems that currently prevent workers from being able to join together and bargain for a better life.
This proposal maintains the status quo by denying workers a real say in the workplace. It denies workers the ability to choose majority sign-up, the one method for organizing proven to reduce coercion and pressure from all sides on workers. It rejects a tried and proven method for ensuring good faith bargaining, denying workers a fair chance to gain the same kind of enforceable contracts that CEOs always take for themselves.
It even increases the power of CEOs to dominate workers’ choices by allowing CEOs to initiate drives to get rid of a union - a choice that should belong to workers, not CEOs. It is nothing more than a classic Washington lobbying campaign intended to confuse the issues and disguise the real agenda of maintaining the status quo.
Strengthening and growing America’s middle class depends on the ability of employees to exercise their democratic rights at work. In these economic times it is more important than ever for workers to have a say about their job security, their wages, their retirement savings, and their health care. The Employee Free Choice Act is simple: it will help our economy work for everyone again by giving workers, not CEOs, the choice of whether and how to join together to bargain for a better life. Workers will not benefit if CEOs continue to have a veto over their rights at work.
Comments (2)
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Large and small companies are making big profits using our minds and bodies as tools. We are teaching our young to find solutions by "putting your heads together." But management is stealing our heads by filling them with bits and pieces of jobs--our thoughts are piecework--the same few thoughts over and over again. We need to reframe our work lives and to do it we need our heads/ our minds! Corporate executives are rich people studying ways to make themselves richer. We need to study how to make ourselves richer! We n eed to put our heads together. The first thing to do is pass the Employee Free Choice Act not some well thought out, studied from every angle, guaranteed to cheat us again, lying, proposal. the Employee Free Choice Act has been through sub-committees, committees and congressional hearings. As an amendment to the Taft-Hartley Act it has been going through the legislative process since the 109th Congress. President Obama, Ted Kennedy, Hilda Solis have vowed to pass the bill. We have no need for an alternative!!! Don't be fooled by this last minute suicide pass by our filthy rich "neighbors." The bill is a breath away from passing into law. Insist on the original-EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT (EFCA)!
Posted by Mary Chenaille on March 24, 2009 at 10:23 PM
Posted on March 24, 2009 at 10:23 PM
Sen. Harkin and Rep. Miller are true champions of labor, and I am grateful for their commitment and for their integrity.We need more legislators who can stand up and be counted as friends to working families.
Take the time to write your Senator or Congressperson and tell them why the Employee Free Choice Act is important to you. Maybe you're a lifetime union member who would like to see more workers enjoy the rights you have always enjoyed; maybe you're trying to get folks to join where you work and know how hard it is to have that target on you back as "an organizer".
The Employee Free Choice Act will pass if we let our elected officials know how important it is to us. Write or call today---you know how to do it!
Posted by Cathi Schafer on March 26, 2009 at 6:57 PM
Posted on March 26, 2009 at 6:57 PM