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Take Part in Call-In Week for Employee Free Choice Act |
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Bernard Pollack, AFL-CIO field coordinator, urges all union activists and allies to take part in the National Call-In Week for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate.
Union activists and allies across the nation are kicking off a Call-In Week of action today to urge senators to vote for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
With the Senate planning for a floor debate on the Employee Free Choice Act in coming days, we’re gearing up to make thousands of phone calls this week to persuade or thank U.S. senators around the Employee Free Choice Act.
United Steelworkers Political Director Chuck Rocha (see video) says the Employee Free Choice Act
cuts to the root of everything we talk about in the union movement: The right to organize. The right to collective bargaining. The rights of members at worksites to have a voice at work. The Employee Free Choice Act is something that cuts across all unions and even into the general public. The general public really wants unions, they want representation at work.
The anti-worker rights campaign against this legislation is fierce. These big-pocket organizations know that by giving people a say in their working conditions, they will have a unified voice to advocate for affordable health care, job safety standards and the right to a secure retirement. That’s why these anti-Employee Free Choice Act groups are pouring millions of dollars into a campaign to stop us in our tracks.
This week is THE week to call your U.S. senators to thank co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act (S. 1041) for fighting for workers to have the choice to organize a union and to tell senators who haven’t yet supported the Employee Free Choice Act to do so before the vote.
We have met every goal for the Employee Free Choice campaign that we have set for ourselves since winning back the Congress in 2006. We have passed the Employee Free Choice Act in the House. We have passed more than 40 state, county and city resolutions in support of the Employee Free Choice Act around the country. We have more than 1,000 elected officials from across the nation publicly championing the right of workers to choose a union. Now, as the vote in the Senate is fast-approaching, we must make it clear to our senators that this is THE most important and effective legislation to bring working families into the middle class.
Taking charge of our destiny starts with a phone call.
If you live in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania or Virginia, dial: 1-800-774-8941.
It also is important to thank senators who have co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act. Click here to see the list of co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act and dial: 1-800-718-1008.
Now’s the time to take action.
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In the Spring of ‘79 I was a union steward with TWU Local 260 out of Houston. I was in the state capitol (Austin) along with the local union president to discuss with state transportation committee people on an issue pertinent to the public transit industry. We were also asked to lobby our respective state reps on the threat by the non-union construction bosses on prevailing wage laws that protect the wage scale of construction workers.
When we arrived at the Capitol building we immediatley realized that we did not need to lobby as the entrances to the Capitol building were jammed with construction workers, their families and supporters. The Texas AFL-CIO estimated the crowd to be around 10,000. These workers entered the Capitol building chanting; “kill that bill, kill that bill”. Their work boots echoed throughout the marble building, the noise so deafening that both legislative chambers were forced to stop. The anti-worker bill was tabled and died. My point? This is the kind of action needed to force Congress to support the Employee Free Choice Act. Only when the politicians see that organized labor is serious about this bill, will they respond in kind.