House Committee Says Yes to Employee Free Choice Act

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/02/15/house-committee-says-yes-to-employee-free-choice-act/

House Committee Says Yes to Employee Free Choice Act

by Mike Hall, Feb 15, 2007

The House Education and Labor Committee beat back attempts to weaken or kill the Employee Free Choice Act, then voted late Wednesday to send the bill to the full House for a vote in the coming months.

The committee vote was 26-19 in favor of advancing the legislation (H.R. 800), which was introduced Feb. 5 and has the bipartisan support of 233 co-sponsors.

The Employee Free Choice Act would give workers greater freedom to make their own decisions about joining a union to bargain for a better life by:

* Establishing stronger penalties for violations of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations,
* Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes, and
* Allowing employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the House committee:

…is taking an important step toward restoring workers’ freedom. I look forward to working with other elected representatives from both parties to continue rebuilding the American dream—an America that works for working Americans.

The most significant of several amendments offered by Republican opponents of the bill would keep workers from forming a union by majority sign-up even when their employer agrees. It would force workers to continue to try to win a voice at work through the flawed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election procedures.

Majority sign-up has been an option for workers and employers for 70 years under the nation’s labor laws, with no evidence of problems for workers or employers. Major employers such as Cingular and Kaiser Health Systems allow workers to form unions through majority sign-up, with less workplace conflict and disruption than the contentious NLRB process.

As several workers describe on the AFL-CIO’s Employee Free Choice Act website, the current election process allows employers to coerce, intimidate and harass employees. When workers try to form unions, 25 percent of employers fire at least one employee for union activity, 75 percent hire consultants to make it harder for workers to form their union and more than 90 percent require workers to attend mandatory anti-union meetings. (Click here to see more tactics employers use against workers seeking to form unions.)

FULL story at link.

[LSparkle]

1. Good news! Thom Hartmann was talking about this today

Glad to see this bill is moving toward passage. It's about time we start reversing some of the damage that's been done to workers' rights since RatBastard landed in D.C.!