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Edited on Tue Mar-13-07 10:36 AM by EarlG
This article is an original submission to DU by the AFL-CIO. -- EarlG
United and in Motion for Workers' Rights
By Stewart Acuff
On March 1, the House of Representatives took a historic step by passing the Employee Free Choice Act with a vote of 241 to 185. This was the result of a four-year labor movement mobilizing workers around the restoration of the right of working people to bargain collectively to improve their lives. In February of this year, more than 130 Members of Congress listened at nearly 100 separate events as workers looked them in the eye to tell them the grueling obstacles they faced when they tried to form a union. Another 200,000 union members and allies sent email, wrote letters, and made phone calls to their elected leaders.
The bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act will do three things to help strengthen and expand the middle class: 1) strengthen penalties for employers that violate workers' freedom to make their own choice about a union, 2) allow a neutral party to determine a first contract if the company and employees cannot reach an agreement, and 3) enable people to form unions when a majority of employees indicate in writing they want one, which would return the choice on whether to form a union to the employees.
Corporations and the right wing noise machine are doing everything they can to stop workers from having the right to bargain collectively with their employers. They know that when workers are united and empowered through unions, they will negotiate for health benefits, pensions, safer working conditions, and higher wages. To fight this act, corporations are running unprecedented print, radio, and TV ads across the country in major media markets in a cynical attempt to confuse and dissuade elected leaders.
We know that working people and their stories are the most powerful way to counteract these messages. For example, newly elected Representative Jason Altmire, a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, heard from Bob Boyle from Butler, Pennsylvania, who told his story about being fired for trying to form a union at Oesterling, Sandblasting, and Painting with the United Steelworkers.
Bob was sick of having to buy his own respirators necessary to do his work safely and felt that he did have job security or respect on the job. Along with his co-workers, he began to form a union. Oesterling did what most corporations do today when its workers attempt to improve their lives by forming unions; they began a ruthless intimidation campaign.
It began with Bob being forced to sit with his direct supervisor one-on-one intimidation sessions discouraging him from forming a union. It continued with threats that the company would sell the operation and eliminate the workforce. Aided by these grueling tactics, the company persuaded a majority of workers to vote against forming a union. What happened to Bob, a worker who only missed four days of work in 17 years? He was fired.
"I wanted a safer workplace, and I wanted a union," Boyle told Rep. Altmire. "There is no doubt in my mind that I was fired because of my union activity. No doubt. Not one."
Unfortunately, Bob's story is nothing new and affects thousands of workers every year. One out of five union activists are likely to be fired when they try to form unions, according to a new study by the Center for Economic Policy Research. 78% force supervisors to meet one-on-one with the people they supervise and urge them to vote "no." In over half of worker campaigns, employers threaten that the workplace will close if workers form a union, yet with the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the U.S. House, it seems that employees are turning a corner.
In the coming months as we head towards a vote on the Employee Free Choice Act in the U.S. Senate, hundreds of thousands more employees will take action in support of the legislation through petition campaigns at the worksite. This campaign will deploy a "Stewards Army" of thousands of union members at worksites across America to convince U.S. Senators of the legislations potential to expand and strengthen the middle class.
Additionally, across the country in States, cities, municipalities, and townships, elected leaders will pass resolutions in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Finally, nearly all U.S. Senators will hear directly from workers several times about the grueling obstacles workers face when trying to form unions in roundtable meetings and mass actions. These workers, along with allied leaders and the progressive community, will confront every U.S Senator and ask them if they support an expanded and strengthened middle class. If they do, the Employee Free Choice Act is the way to achieve it.
Stewart Acuff is National Organizing Director of the AFL-CIO.
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