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Civil Rights Movement Hero Supports Changing Nation’s Labor Laws |
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Rep. John Lewis says workers should not be afraid to join a union.
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Today, one of the true heroes of America’s struggle for equal rights came out strongly for legislation that would help make it easier for workers to have a free choice when deciding whether to form a union.
Speaking at an Atlanta news conference, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a major leader in the civil rights movement since the 1960s, said that in recent years labor law has been weakened so that workers have little legal recourse and are subject to firing or pay cuts when they participate in union activity.
“People living in a democracy should not have to work in an atmosphere of fear or oppression. They should not have to sacrifice their dignity or their safety to support their families,” Lewis said.
“Working Americans are already struggling with stagnant wages. They are jammed by the expenses of raising children and caring for elderly parents. President Bush and his administration have consistently pushed for less federal support for these families, while increasing their tax burden.”
People are working hard, struggling to make ends meet. The only chance they have to protect themselves in this ever-expanding, global workforce is to join together and bargain collectively to get decent working conditions and living wages so they can raise their families.
Lewis is one of the 233 House co-sponsors of the bill, the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800).
In Atlanta and in more than 100 other cities across the nation, workers are meeting with members of Congress and community leaders to push for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. At news conferences, worker roundtables, rallies and other gatherings, workers and union and community leaders are connecting with more than 130 members of Congress—thanking those who support the Employee Free Choice Act and demanding better from those who don’t.
Click here to find an Employee Free Choice Act event near you.
Charlie Flemming, president of the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, says America needs the Employee Free Choice Act:
Statistics bear out that union members are paid better wages and get better benefits than nonunion workers. Right now, the economy is tilted—a few on the top taking in most of the profits, while those on the bottom are left with little or nothing. It’s time that we changed this travesty. The only way to do it is by building stronger unions.
Earlier this week in Houston, nine workers testified at a worker roundtable that the Employee Free Choice Act would have made the process of choosing a union and getting a first contract more fair.
The workers included a member of the United Steelworkers, who said workers are still fighting for a first contract months after they chose a union, and a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers who was fired for supporting a union.
The hard fact, says Richard Shaw, executive secretary-treasurer of the Harris County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in Houston, is that workers risk losing their jobs and their lifestyles when they speak up for themselves and want to join a union.
In New York City, five members of that state’s congressional delegation pledged to support the Employee Free Choice Act. Several workers attended a press conference where they shared how their employers intimidated and harassed them when they sought to form a union.
James Bush, who works at Verizon Business, described how he has been intimidated, interrogated and harassed at employer-mandated meetings for trying to form a union with the Communications Workers of America. Bush said he and his co-workers came together to form a union because they wanted to bargain for higher wages and benefits.
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Members of the New York state congressional delegation and union leaders pledged their support for the Employee Free Choice Act.
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Author Joe Conason, writing in Salon.com, says the U.S. government would never tolerate other countries treating its citizens the way we treat workers trying to form a union.
Conason said: “The Bush administration frequently denounces governments that suppress free speech, intimidate citizens and tamper with elections, expressing outrage over violations of human rights and self-determination in states such as Cuba, Iran, Myanmar (Burma) and Zimbabwe.
“So what would our great advocates of democracy say about a regime that routinely deprives people of their livelihood for speaking out freely on public issues? What would they say about a place where citizens are forced to listen to propaganda—or where voters have to run a gantlet of armed police to enter a voting booth? How would they describe a system that distributes bribes, spies on dissidents and threatens everyone who dares to vote the “wrong” way with the direst possible consequences?”
If they told the truth, they would be forced to admit that those awful conditions still exist on American soil, oppressing millions of workers whose employers use such tactics to prevent them from forming or joining a labor union.
Click here to see details of the Employee Free Choice Act.
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The Civil Rights Movement and the Labor Rights Movement are part of the same struggle for greater Political, Social and Economic Justice for all.