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Freedom to Join Unions: A Key Working Family Issue in 2006 Vote |
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For Donna Green, the 2006 election boils down to an issue critical for working families: whether a congressional candidate supports the Employee Free Choice Act. Green, who works at a nonunion Peabody Energy mine, told a rally in Evansville, Ind., on Tuesday:
Even though it’s not as visible as it once was, the anti-union attitude at Peabody Mines hasn’t changed. It seems like safety is an issue only when it doesn’t interfere with production. We want the same benefits as the workers in Peabody’s union mines. We do the same work, but work longer hours for less pay and no benefits.
We have to support candidates for Congress who will get this bill passed.
At a briefing for congressional candidates earlier this month, AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff joined several workers in describing why ensuring workers have the freedom to join a union is one of the major issues in the union movement’s Labor 2006 get-out-the-vote efforts. They urged the candidates to support the Employee Free Choice Act, which would:
- Allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing representation.
- Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.
- Establish stronger penalties for violations of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
In recent years, the Mine Workers (UMWA) union has responded to the requests of thousands of nonunion miners at Peabody’s facilities across the country for assistance in getting a voice at work. In December 2005, workers at 19 Peabody mines in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia launched the Justice at Peabody campaign.
Green says most of the miners who have not signed union cards at the Black Beauty mine, where she works near Evansville, are afraid:
They say the company could shut down the mine or Peabody can’t afford to have a union. They’re intimidated by the company.
I tell them that if we elect the right people and get this bill through, they won’t have to go through that long (National Labor Relations Board) vote. Signing this card will be their vote.
Peabody, the world’s largest private coal company, provides 10 percent of the nation’s electricity and 3 percent of the world’s power. The company employs some 8,300 miners at 33 mines in nine states.
Peabody systematically closed its union mines and replaced them with nonunion mines over the past 15 years, says Bob Gaydos, UMWA’s assistant organizing director.
John Cox, a miner at Peabody’s Farmersburg (Ind.) mine who spoke at a Terre Haute rally, says:
Only with a union contract will we have better pay and benefits because it’s obvious Peabody is not going to give it to us. We work long hours and most weekends. When we retire, we have no pension and no health insurance.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who also spoke at the Evansville and Terre Haute rallies, told the crowd in Evansville the Republicans are misleading workers with their “God, guns and gays” agenda:
Vote your family pocketbooks, which unite us, instead of personal prejudice, which divides us. It doesn’t do you any good to own the gun if you can’t afford the ammunition.
The leaders who are in control of our government…are steadfastly leading our country on a highway to hell. They’re selling out America, they’re selling out our values and they’re selling out our way of life. We’re not going down that highway any further.
Terre Haute and Evansville are in Indiana’s 8th Congressional District, which is in the midst of a closely-watched race pitting union-endorsed Democrat Brad Ellsworth against a six-term incumbent Republican.
Don’t forget to check out the AFL-CIO political action center, www.votenov7.org, where you can register to vote, learn about working family issues and download candidate comparison fliers.
If you’re a union member, sign up to volunteer to get out the vote and find events in your area here. If you’re not a union member, join the AFL-CIO community affiliate Working America and join the fight for good jobs, affordable health care, quality education and secure retirements.
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