Huffington Post: Dick Cheney Battles Clergy Over Employee Free Choice Act

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/the-dark-lord----dick-che_b_203302.html

While most recent media attention about Dick Cheney has focused on his pro-torture comments, it's worth noting that his remarks Tuesday attacking the Employee Free Choice Act also aired on the same day as a new coalition of religious leaders, Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness, pressed the case for the pro-worker legislation. (The next day, the pro-union momentum continued with a new ad aimed at pressuring flip-flopping Senator Arlen Specter to back the Employee Free Choice Act, another sign that the campaign for the bill is far from over.) Even as the AFL-CIO's spokesperson, Eddie Vale, ironically "welcomed" Cheney as a front man for the anti-union cause -- "If Cheney wants to emerge and be the lead spokesman against the Employee Free Choice Act, I'll help book his interviews," he said -- such religious leaders as the Rev. Jim Wallis outlined the moral case for workplace fairness. As their press release noted:

"Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness" says labor law reform, restoring balance to economy, is "a moral imperative"

Washington, DC-- Prominent interfaith leaders today called on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, calling it a "moral imperative" and a civil and human right. The diverse group included Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Dr. Joseph Fahey of Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, Bishop Greg Rickel of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, and Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, former Executive Director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. Leaders of the new group, called Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness, spoke on a conference call for press moderated by Kim Bobo of Interfaith Worker Justice.

"We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act because at the heart of this debate is the moral issue of fairness in the need to level the playing field between employee and employer," said Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners. "The great chasm that's grown between CEO salaries and that of average workers should deeply concern not just union members, but every Member of Congress, every CEO, and everyone who cares about the future of our economy."

Religious leaders can be very influential in promoting local organizing drives against stubborn corporations, and the hope among union activists is that they can help play such a role at the national level, adding a moral claim to the push for creating a level playing field for workers. When I attended undercover a unionbusting seminar by the law firm Jackson Lewis for In These Times, the attorney for the firm recounted the outsized influence of the clergy in an SEIU battle to organize janitors in Houston (although his comments weren't in the final published article). He reported in horrified tones:

"The Justice for Janitors talked about raising the average wage. They went to the archbishop, the local politicians. The archbishop even held a mass for the Justice for Janitors. How can anybody fight that? I'm good at fighting Jimmy Hoffa, but a bishop? We have to deal with the pope's encyclical and people's faith."

FULL story at link.

[dcsmart]

1. glad to see the religious community involved K & R

the more voices the better...:toast: