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Three More Backers Needed for Bill to Protect Freedom to Form Unions |
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Three more co-sponsors. That’s all that’s needed to get a majority of House members to sign on to a bill that would level the playing field when workers try to form a union.
Republican Reps. Jim Gerlach (Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (N.J.) added their names to the list of co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act, bringing the number of co-sponsors to 215 in the U.S. House, three short of a majority. There are 42 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate.
Says AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff:
This is further evidence that this legislation is viable and winnable and that we have built a strong, deep bipartisan coalition. Getting this close should help convince every union activist in the country that every congressional seat we win back in November helps us regain the freedom to form unions.
In April 2005, a bipartisan coalition reintroduced the Employee Free Choice Act. The act would strengthen workers’ rights to choose representation by requiring employers to recognize a union after a majority of employees sign authorization cards. It also would provide for mediation and arbitration of first-contract disputes and authorize stronger penalties for violation of labor law when workers seek to form a union.
If the bill passes, it would mean that workers such as Ann Hurlburt could finally get a union. Hurlburt and her co-workers at Blue Diamond Growers have been trying for more than a year and a half to form a union with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 17. Even before the workers announced they wanted a union at the world’s largest almond processor, the company began harassing them and threatening to take away their jobs, Hurlburt told an April 20 hearing led by California Democratic Reps. George Miller and Doris Matsui:
Even before we came out publicly, Blue Diamond started an aggressive anti-union campaign. They call us “the misguided few” and “an unruly mob.” Their fliers tell employees our union dues will be $500, and that we can’t participate in a pension plan for five years. They tell us if our name is on the organizing committee, we will be terminated. Four of us have been terminated. My name is on that list.
People are still scared. It shouldn’t be so hard. We need a voice in the workplace. We employees want the right to choose better for ourselves, our families, our community and our company. Our goal is a good legal contract.
We need changes in the law so we can make this choice without fear and firings. We need the Employee Free Choice Act.
Although some 57 million workers say they would join a union, according to research by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, employers use the federal union elections process to coerce workers to vote against the union. A survey of 400 National Labor Relations Board election campaigns in 1998 and 1999 found that 36 percent of private-sector workers who voted against union representation said their vote was a response to employer pressure.
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