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‘Tomorrow, Working People Will Have Their Day’ |
For a dozen years, corporate America has had its way on Capitol Hill. Tomorrow, when the House votes on the Employee Free Choice Act, America’s workers finally will be heard in the halls of Congress, key leaders in the House told a press conference today. Predicting that the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800), which has 233 co-sponsors, will pass the House, Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), who chairs the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions subcommittee, said:
Big Oil has had its day in Congress. The big defense contractors have had their day. And the pharmaceutical companies have had their day. For America’s workers, tomorrow is your day.
Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) praised the “unsung heroes” in America’s workplaces who daily stand up against the coercion and harassment meted out by employers to prevent workers from enjoying their fundamental freedom to decide for themselves whether and how to join a union.
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Errol Hohrein says Congress should do the right thing and pass the Employee Free Choice Act. |
One of those unsung heroes is Errol Hohrein, a boilermaker at Front Range Energy’s ethanol distillery in northern Colorado. He told reporters today how he and his co-workers decided to seek a union after management continued to ignore their concerns about safety problems in the plant, even as the company reneged on promises to pay a decent wage and affordable health care benefits. When one worker complained about not being paid what he was promised, he was fired, Hohrein said.
Despite a strong anti-union campaign by management, the workers voted 12–11 in January to join the United Steelworkers. According to Hohrein:
That vote might sound close, but these men are very conservative. Most of them are Republicans who have never had anything to do with a union. But they recognized that the only way they were going to get any equity was by joining together. So under those circumstances, the vote was overwhelming.
Just days after that vote, Hohrein was fired.
It’s time for the government to do the right thing and pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said at the press conference that passing the Employee Free Choice Act will be a boon to the nation’s economy:
What’s made America great is the middle class, people who worked hard and bought products to build up their families and their communities. The Employee Free Choice Act affects real lives of real people who are husbands, wives, mothers, fathers and grandparents. This is an important bill and we’re going to pass it on Thursday.
Further, the Employee Free Choice Act will address working people’s basic concerns, said House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.).
When people feel their working conditions are bad, all they want is a response from the powers that be. Passing the Employee Free Choice Act will show people we care.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) pointed out how the Employee Free Choice Act is democracy in action.
[Big corporations] get to choose which health benefits package they want. They get to choose what pension plan serves them best. But 60 million nonunion working Americans don’t get that choice.
In many American workplaces fear reigns supreme. Tomorrow, all that ends. With (passage of the Employee Free Choice Act) we finally level the American workers playing field. With it we stand up for America by standing up for the American worker.
Ultimately, though, the legislation is about working Americans having the opportunity for a better life, according to Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.), a union member who for 13 years worked cutting men’s suits at Seaford Clothing in Rock Island, Ill.
I would not be able to stand here as a member of Congress if it had not been for the representation I received from my union. I was able to send my kids to college, buy a house and build a secure retirement. More and more, ordinary Americans are seeing these opportunities slip away.
In choosing a union, I was able to make it from the floor of Seaford to the halls of Congress. Let’s give all Americans that opportunity.
Click here to see details of the Employee Free Choice Act.
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On Iraq; the Dems would be well served to abandon any direct policy towards changing the war strategy in Iraq. It’s Cheney and Bush’s War; they’re the 2 guys who have to find the solution. However, the Dems are obliged to try and influence the course the administration takes to end the war.
I believe the most effective action the Dems can pursue to get Bush to change his policy in Iraq is a Cheney/Bush War Tax. This administration represents the rich, so if the Dems pursued an effort to get into the pockets and wallets of the rich, the War would be over in no time. Cheney and Bush might feel a little differently about their war in Iraq if they knew there would be a new tax to cover the cost of their mismanaged war, retroactive back to May 1, 2003; “Mission Accomplish, the war is over.” It should be a progressive tax with the greatest burden falling on the 2% of the richest Americans. The windfall from the Cheney/Bush War Tax should be dedicated to:
1] rebuilding the US Military
2] to expand lifetime health and family benefits to all GI’s who have served in Iraq, with special death and severe injury benefits
3] expand border agents along US borders
4] rebuilding and re-energizing the US Gulf Coast ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
5] Fighting the War on Terror
I would think every Republican in the House and Senate would be inclined to join the Dems in support this measure; it supports the troops, the US Military, secures our borders and helps in rebuilding an important part of America. Plus it’s fiscally responsible. This should win by big majorities! Who could possibly
oppose it?
Albert Colone
Oneonta, NY 13820
607/432-4057