Steelworkers Rally for Employee Free Choice

by James Parks, Apr 24, 2007

Steelworkers sent a message to lawmakers to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

More than 700 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) rallied on Capitol Hill today to let our elected leaders know that America’s workers are paying ever-increasing prices for health care, housing and gasoline, while their paychecks do not grow.

The rally followed a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill as part of the union’s legislative conference. The USW members met with their representatives and senators on a wide range of issues important to working families: the Employee Free Choice Act, which is pending in the Senate (S. 1041), fair trade, national health care and energy.

USW President Leo Gerard said working people need to impress upon the Senate

that the Employee Free Choice Act must be passed to stop the human rights of workers who try to form unions from being routinely violated by employers day in and day out in this country.

The Employee Free Choice Act, which passed in the House on March 1, would rein in the employer harassment, intimidation and stalling that tens of thousands of workers encounter every year when they try to form unions and bargain for a better life. It also would allow workers to decide to join a union by majority sign-up. Under this approach, the employer recognizes the union if a majority of workers sign union authorization cards.

In a letter to senators today, AFL-CIO Legislation Director Bill Samuel noted the National Labor Relations Board process too-often turns into management-controlled elections. Samuel highlights how employers routinely fire, intimidate and harass workers seeking to form unions.

Meanwhile, the USW yesterday presented its Wellstone Award to Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and  Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine).

Dorgan has introduced legislation that would ban the U.S. sale of imported products made in sweatshop factories. Michaud was a member of USW Local 37 when he was employed at the Great Northern Paper Co. before being elected to Congress in 2002. He is leading the fight against bad trade agreements with Peru, Columbia and Korea. The award recognizes public service workers who exemplify the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and his commitment to working people. Wellstone, his wife, daughter and three campaign aides were killed in a plane crash prior to the election in 2002.

Other speakers at the rally included Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); and Reps. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), Zack Space (D-Ohio), Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) and Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.).

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