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Million-Member Mobilization Momentum for Employee Free Choice |
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The union movement’s nationwide drive to get at least 1 million signatures in support of the Employee Free Choice Act is gaining momentum. In just four months, nearly 300,000 people have signed postcards to tell the new president and Congress that working families across America want them to immediately enact the legislation.
The cards will be presented to the new Congress after the November elections in a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. (You can show your support for the Employee Free Choice Act by clicking here to sign our online card.)
Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen, who chairs the AFL-CIO Organizing Committee, says:
The corporate bullies who are scared to death of the Employee Free Choice Act have millions of dollars to spend to try to defeat it. Our side has millions of working families who are fed up with having their rights stomped on, and our postcard campaign is one way we will make that abundantly clear to lawmakers.
Joe Barca, president of CWA Local 1103 in Port Chester, N.Y., says the Employee Free Choice Act is critical to rebuilding the middle class:
Working people have had both hands tied behind our backs by the National Labor Relations Board and it has made it difficult to form and join unions. The Employee Free Choice Act would allow our democracy to be democratic.
I grew up in the 1950s and every working person on my block was a union member. Now my wife and I are the only ones on our block. It’s got to change and the Employee Free Choice Act, I believe, will turn it around.
Some 875 of Local 1103’s 1,500 members already have signed cards, Barca adds, and the goal is for all of the members to sign. “This is too important” to get just a small percentage of signatures, he says.
The AFL-CIO Executive Council voted in March to launch the Million-Member Mobilization. In a statement, the council lays out the urgent need to pass the bill:
America’s workers must regain their bargaining power to maintain and expand the middle class. The American middle class was created by the ability of workers to form unions and bargain collectively after the passage of the Wagner Act in 1935.
More and more Americans are beginning to understand that collective bargaining can promote broadly shared economic growth and prosperity, higher wages, better jobs, better and more extensive health care coverage, retirement security and respect for workers on the job.
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For years we have been electing candidates who we believed would be honest and responsible government officials, senators and representatives to represent us and take care of the nation’s business. The majority of these people turned out to be nothing but an irresponsible bunch of sandbox bullies who spend more time arguing and fighting than getting their work done. The Dems refuse to okay a Rep bill (or vice-versa) unless it has other amendments (read: pork) attached to it before they will agree to it. Meanwhile, the country is going to Hell financially and morally and our supposed “leaders” don’t have a clue as to what is needed. Who really has any faith in our leaders any more?
When we sign contracts on cars, houses, cell phones, etc. we agree to do certain things and they agree to do certain things, and there are penalties for not following through on this. Isn’t it strange that we don’t have any contracts with the people who lead this country, so once elected; they are free to do what fits their political agenda (or pay back the people/corporations who generously supported their political campaigns?) This lack of responsibility has put this country on the edge of bankruptcy morally and financially.
If you have downloaded any software upgrades, you have to agree to a long “Terms of Usage” contract agreement before you can do the download. It made me think…. I have to agree to do certain things for a computer download but I have no such contract with the people I choose to run this country? The software upgrade is more important than our country’s well-being?
I propose that we create a contract for our political candidates stating what America needs to get back on track and if they refuse to agree and sign, we don’t vote for them. A contract with America. We have many people with the expertise, knowledge and ethics to tell us how to get America back on track: people who were warning us years ago about a future financial meltdown after the financial world was deregulated, they said what needed to be done, but the government pooh-poohed their words and look where we are now. There are thousands of smart people who have the knowledge but don’t want the stench of politics hanging around them or to play stupid political games. We have had people warning us about problems for many years, but their words are ignored and the problem gets worse. We need to find these people and ask them “How do we get America back on track?” “What is the best thing for the majority of Americans?” “What is the root of this problem, and how do we fix it?” “How do we keep it from happening again?”
If our “leaders” can’t or won’t find the answers, we will find people who can tell them what needs to be done. We don’t have the time to wait and hope again and again that our leaders will do the right things; we need to push them to do what they should. If every candidate had the option of signing or not getting the vote and had to publicly declare that they had signed or not signed, we wouldn’t have to try and believe another batch of empty promises and go through another cycle of watching America bleed to death slowly…Gee, they would have to get together and work like responsible people, what a concept!!!!!
Some points to be covered:
NAFTA: Freeze it until the true costs to American and foreign workers can be shown, that it was a boon for corporate interests in the US and Mexico and a terrible deal for workers in the US and Mexico.
CAFTA: No way, not with a country so anti-union, anti-worker and so corrupt. Did Washington not see the mess NAFTA made before they even considered any more of these agreements?
OSHA, MSHA, and NLRB: Get rid of those blatantly anti-union, anti-worker bureau heads and replace them with people who have a true understanding of workers and their safety, someone who has actually worked in the field they are heading. We don’t need any more of those ridiculous “supervisor” decisions, or allowing corporations to avoid safety measures or penalties for lack of safety. A human life is worth more than a few thousand dollars in penalties or saving money by skimping on safety.
FDA: The Faulty Drug Administration will receive $400 million of its budget from cushy agreements with big pharmaceutical companies. Who do you think they are really representing? Not American safety. The FDA will not “approve” any drugs or treatments that have not been tested in the US, so drugs that have been tested and used for years in Europe, Scandinavia and Japan are not approved, while drugs dubiously tested in the US are approved. Americans don’t need to be guinea pigs for big pharma every time they buy a pricey prescription.
SEC: Christopher Cox started out with some great ideas for making corporate America’s CEO pay and perks more public, but he caved in to pressure and the watered down version went through. Several years ago Lucian Bebchek of Yale wrote several articles on the problems in the SEC and what needed to be done to correct them. The SEC didn’t listen.
The Employee Free Choice act: the only winner here is corporate America. What is so difficult about giving American workers the right to form unions to not only earn fair wages, but to better working conditions? Corporate America used the “divide and conquer” tactic for many years to weaken and break unions, and keep workers from forming unions. Wages for workers are not even keeping up with inflation while CEOs and top level workers are gaining huge increases annually.
Immigration: How many years does it take to get this taken care of? It comes down to a simple fact: America cannot support 12 million illegal immigrants while our own people need housing, medical care and better schools. Immigrants need to be told: we can’t afford to take care of you, our own people come first, and it is time for you to go home or come in through legal routes. We are not going to adapt our country to you, learn English, learn our culture or go home. We have millions of immigrants who came in by legal routes, worked and earned their US citizenship. They were the bedrock of America; the people who helped build our country. They asked for nothing but a job, and worked their way to the American dream. Americans have always been caring and helping people, but now it is our own people who need the care and the help. The Statue of Liberty needs to douse the lamp for a while.
The FAA: Since Reagan fired the air controllers, they have had a continuing problem. Today it is even worse: a large percentage of our air traffic controllers are eligible for retirement in the next two years, and because of the high stress level of the job and the crazy working schedules, most of those people will leave. Airports are already short of the controllers needed, but the FAA acts like the only problem is just the controllers “whining”. Note to FAA doofuses: They are trying to tell you of a serious problem, wake up and listen!)
New controllers need more than a few weeks training program. These people are overseeing hundreds of planes with thousands of passengers a day and they need the best working conditions to be at the top of their skills. The FAA doesn’t seem to understand the importance of the air traffic controllers. The close calls are getting more frequent, do we have to wait until we have the “crash of the month” for a few months to wake up the FAA? We don’t have time to wait, and I certainly don’t want to be on a plane heading into an airport under the control of an exhausted, overworked controller trying to do the job of two people….
Energy Programs: (What a &^%%$ mess!!!!!)
Okay, you’ve got the ball….let’s see you run with it!!!!
Politician’s “contracts” are when they raise their right hand and take the oath to serve the people they represent. Of course when the “honeymoon” is over, they turn into the usual suspects, sending you form “thank you” letters for writing or emailing them, and “please keep in contact with my office, I am here for you” BS. and then fall into bed with the lobbyists.
When a politician breaks the promise to serve the people they represent, the voters should have the right to impeach and bring the SOBs back home!
That goes for George Bush also!!!! @#!#@!
That’s why we are in such trouble, they take their “fake oaths” knowing that the people back home won’t take the time and energy needed to drag their sorry butts back home….The people back home will spend the time whining and complaining and sending endless emails to their representatives (which will be ignored or sent a token automatic thank you reply).
We don’t have time to wait for miracles, it’s time for something drastic or we continue watching our great country bleed to death.
Drastic times call for drastic measures and it is painfully obvious that our supposed leaders are so clueless that the sleazy elements in our country are taking full advantage of the loopholes and the clueless leaders to rob the rest of us blind and leave the taxpayers to pick up the tab. I showed my 16 year old grandson the headline about the megamillion bailout for Freddie and Fannie and told him his generation would still be paying for this. What a lovely legacy for our children and grandchildren….