Speaking today to our brothers and sisters at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Vice President Joe Biden laid out why passing the Employee Free Choice Act is so important:
Vice President Joe Biden, making a renewed pitch for a major change in labor law, told union leaders Tuesday that the best way to rebuild the middle class is to help labor unions grow.
Biden said it’s time to “level the playing field” for unions by passing a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize.
“You’ve got to climb up a hill with so many roadblocks on the way to organize that it’s just out of whack,” Biden told a conference of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has about 1.6 million members.
“If a union is what you want, then a union is what you should get,” Biden said…
Biden pointed out the difference between public sector employees, where 37 percent belong to unions, compared to the private sector, where just 7.5 percent of workers carry union cards. He said federal, state and municipal employees face fewer barriers to organization, while managers in the private sector use “every trick in the book” to undermine unions.
Biden said he and President Barack Obama would not consider their economic recovery efforts a success unless growth creates “good, sustainable, livable jobs in the process.” A key element, he said, is rebuilding the American labor movement, which has steadily declined since the 1950s.
“We will not consider it a success unless the middle class is growing, taking a piece of that productivity,” Biden said.
Comments (1)
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President Obama on TV yesterday said everyone was at the table working on health reform. The first, 1st, group he mentioned at the table was UNION--this means YOU & ME are fighting for our needs among insurance companies, doctors, etc.
Our President wants us in a union. President Barak Obama wants you and me to join the union. He wants us all at the table with one big voice.
Don't let the man down!!
M
Posted by Mary on May 12, 2009 at 11:25 PM
Posted on May 12, 2009 at 11:25 PM