by James Parks, Mar 1, 2007

The U.S. House of Representatives is set today to pass the most important change in labor law in 70 years. The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800), supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help rebuild America’s middle class.

Beginning at noon, AFL-CIO Now will be live blogging the Employee Free Choice Act floor debate on Capitol Hill.

The bill would strengthen America’s middle class by ensuring that workers who want to form unions and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions can do so without employer harassment. As Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), chairman of the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, puts it:

The nation prospers when people can enter the middle class. Forty-seven million people have no health insurance, 69 million have no pension, but the vast majority of union members have insurance and pensions and safe workplaces. There is no middle class in this country without the union movement.

Andrews yesterday hosted a conference call for the netroots, introducing three workers who have tried to form unions. Andrews disputed claims of many Republicans that workers now have a free choice through the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) election process.

They conveniently ignore the [employers’] coercive actions that take place before the election. Workers are coerced when a person is fired. Sure, they get their jobs back, but that’s three, four or five years later. The employer has a great amount of leverage and the Employee Free Choice Act will level the playing field.

The three workers described their experience seeking to form unions:

• Errol Hohrein, a member of the United Steelworkers, was fired after being a vocal supporter of a union at Front Range Energy’s ethanol distillery in northern Colorado. Workers were concerned the company was ignoring serious safety problems and reneging on promises about pay and health benefits.
   
• Bill Lawhorn was fired in 2002 for backing the union at Consolidated Biscuit Co. in McComb, Ohio. The NLRB ruled Lawhorn was illegally fired and ordered the company to rehire him. Five years later, he’s still not back at work and he hasn’t received back pay. He now makes his living by hauling trash for his neighbors in a truck his sons bought for him.

It’s not right for your children to be loaning you money. At this point in life, I should be loaning them money.

• Teresa Joyce said workers at the Cingular Wireless service center in Lebanon, Va., successfully joined the Communications Workers of America when the employer agreed to recognize the workers’ choice. It’s a different place to work since the union came in, she says.

Today, supervisors treat us with respect. We’ve been able to bargain for fair wage increases and affordable health care benefits. Our wages are now determined by a wage scale, not favoritism. We have more vacation days and—more importantly—we have job security. Working at the call center is a totally different experience, and it’s all because we came together to fight for our right to improve our lives through collective bargaining.

The AFL-CIO assisted in setting up the conference call.
 
Meanwhile, the Bush administration tried yesterday to put a damper on the historic vote by announcing President Bush will veto the bill if it passes. But House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), the bill’s main sponsor, along with 233 co-sponsors, strongly urged Bush not to veto the legislation: 

President Bush has used his veto power sparingly since taking office, but given the radical agenda he has pursued over the last several years it should come as no surprise to anyone that he would threaten to veto much-needed legislation to help workers bargain for a better life. I would strongly urge the president to reconsider his position on the Employee Free Choice Act, because its enactment is critical to ensuring that the American economy benefits everyone.

It is beyond me why the president and Republican leaders in Congress refuse to trust American workers to make these choices for themselves. They should rethink their opposition to the legislation.

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