Help Us Pass the Employee Free Choice Act Now!
Working Americans don't need to look much farther than their
shrinking workplaces, pensions or 401(k) statements to understand why
we must level the playing field between lavishly paid CEOs and the
rest of us who depend on successful American businesses to support
themselves and their families.
Visit the AFL-CIO’s new Employee Free Choice Act Website
http://www.employeefreechoice.org/
Working Americans knew before this devastating economic crisis that
they needed a stronger voice in the workplace - not only to protect
their wages, healthcare and retirement, but to protect the
institutions they work for from being destroyed by greed and
corruption.
The Employee Free Choice Act is bipartisan legislation that would
restore balance between employees and employers so that companies and
institutions can serve the interests of consumers, management and the
workers simultaneously.
EFCA would ensure that workers have a fair chance to form unions.
Under EFCA, when a majority of workers signs cards stating that they
want union representation, a union is formed and negotiations begin.
If an employer and a union cannot agree on a new contract in 90 days,
they can request a federal mediator. Absent an agreement after 30
days of mediation, the dispute may be referred to binding arbitration.
The current labor law system is broken. Corporations intimidate,
coerce or fire employees who try to form unions. Workers are fired in
a quarter of private-sector union organizing campaigns, sending a
chilling message to their co-workers: Keep organizing, and you will
be next.
Workers who try to form unions are subjected to coercive, one-on-one
anti-union meetings with their supervisors. Even after workers form
unions, 44 percent of the time they can't get a first contract. There
is no penalty for employer foot-dragging.
Anti-union employers rarely work alone. Corporations can afford
union-busting consultants and law firms that use legal and illegal
methods to silence employees who attempt to bargain for better wages,
healthcare and working conditions.
With the housing, job and financial markets in crisis borne of greed
and corruption, American workers need a system that allows them to
not only advocate on behalf of their own interests, but one that
brings them to the table as watchdogs over the fiscal health of the
companies on which they depend.
Unions benefit all Americans. Unions raise all workers' wages,
improve healthcare, reduce wage inequality and have created safer
work environments. States with higher rates of unionization have
lower rates of poverty and crime and fewer failing schools. Some 42
million workers say they would join a union if they could.
American workers are losing ground because companies are tilted in
favor of high-paid executives with golden parachutes while
middle-class families with mortgages, college tuition bills and
healthcare expenses - struggle to stay afloat.
Visit the AFL-CIO’s new Employee Free Choice Act Website at http://www.employeefreechoice.org/
EFCA will level the playing field for employees and employers, so
they can promote sound policies and collaborative efforts that
sustain workers, businesses and society as a whole. The Employee Free
Choice Act is the first step toward ending the fear among workers who
thirst for socially responsible and ethical corporate practices that
help all Americans prosper.
Join the AFT's One Million Strong campaign to gather a million
signatures urging Congress to pass EFCA when it reconvenes in January.
Sign the petition at: http://www.freechoiceact.org/page/s/aft
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