Progressive Democrats of America: Working People United Will Never Be Defeated

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2009-04-22-16-30-03-news.php

By Michael Carano, PDA OH State Co-coordinator
April 22, 2009
Take Action: Tell Congress to pass the EFCA


If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It’s that simple. We need to stand up to the business lobby and pass the Employee Free Choice Act, That’s why I have been fighting for it in the Senate, and that’s why I’ll make it the law of the land when I’m president of the United States.

Those promising words where said by presidential candidate Barack Obama while campaigning in Ohio during the Democratic primary. Unfortunately, the now President Barack Obama cannot make it law by himself. It is up to Labor, working people of all ranks and socio-economic backgrounds, faith-based communities, and grassroots organizations to demand that each of our congressional representatives sign on to put the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) on the president’s desk so he can sign it into law. We must demand that it be passed as now written, thus making it the best piece of legislation in the last forty years to protect the interests of working men and women in our nation.

Labor pumped upwards of a hundred million dollars into the presidential race and untold millions into congressional and down-ticket races, mostly to Democratic candidates. Too often in the past, Labor has done the yeoman work for the Democratic Party only to be left with hat in hand while anti-worker legislation is passed; the party, it appears, is tied to the same Wall Street and corporate interests as their Republican counterparts. PDA stands with Labor. More importantly, PDA wants the Democratic Party to stand up to the corporate interests by standing up for Labor and passing the EFCA. Will America’s working men and woman get their due?

EFCA would end the stonewalling and roadblocks put in the way by employers and make it easier to form unions in these important ways:

* Compel employers to recognize a union if 50% plus one of employees sign an authorization card, known as “card check” recognition. Falsehoods put out by the corporate forces fighting EFCA abound—EFCA does not take away the right to a secret ballot. Employees can choose their union-forming process, either by elections or by majority sign-up. Click this link to see why majority sign-up is the best method.
* Provide protection of workers while engaged in the union-forming process by ordering employers to pay treble damages to workers illegally fired for engaging in activities protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
* Invoke binding arbitration by an independent third party, ending the long and drawn out effort to reach a first agreement by the new union or the employer. Through the hearing process, the arbitrator would establish the terms of the first collective bargaining agreement, which would be in force for a period of two years, after which traditional bargaining would occur.
* End the practice of employer intimidation and fear over the working people seeking to unionize. Working people are at a distinct disadvantage under the present system—not only are their livelihoods are at stake, but employers can and have engaged in well-orchestrated campaigns exerting undue control over their employees at the work place.

The Right-wing business lobby groups are already engaging in disinformation campaigns against this legislation, and our tasks are threefold. First, we must push our representatives who have signed on to EFCA to stand strong. Second, we must get those who have yet to sign on to do so. And third, we must educate our coworkers, friends, and family about the facts of EFCA and dispel the myths perpetrated by those opposed to improving the lives of working men and woman. In the end, this is not a battle between the Left and Right; it is a battle between those at the top of the economic ladder and the shrinking middle and lower rungs of that ladder.

To find more information you can pass along to coworkers and the public, go to American Rights at Work: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org

[shadowknows69]

1. Want to unionize this whole country? We need help and we need to strike.

Three words: Services services services. We need some wealthy liberal philanthropists to literally start paying some people en masse, to strike, so they can afford to, until companies come to our terms. Bring enough vital, or luxurious, services to a screeching halt in this country and they'll have to listen.