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Businessman Argues for Employee Free Choice Act |
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This week in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Joe Diecedue, a state agent for American Income Life Insurance, has written a great piece that explains what the Employee Free Choice Act is and why we need this vital legislation.
Written from the perspective of a businessman and employer who knows his business needs economically secure consumers, the article is a great antidote to the short-sighted and false attacks that are coming from industry lobbyists and anti-worker lawyers.
When a worker does well, business does well. Business can sell and retain customers who can afford to pay. No one wins when everyone struggles.
Diecedue cuts through the anti-worker spin and misleading arguments, and focuses on the problem the Employee Free Choice Act is aimed at fixing: Workers have less and less power to bargain for a better life, and the economy is suffering as a result. A fair economy that works for everyone, Diecedue says, is a stronger economy for workers and business alike.
As a businessman, I see the best short-term strategic, sustainable solution as more local and immediate: paying workers higher wages that puts immediate money into the economy…
Historically, collective bargaining agreements have resulted in building a robust middle class with true shared prosperity.
Diecedue responds to the baseless attacks against the Employee Free Choice Act and lays out in detail the three essential parts of the bill:
- Stronger penalties for bosses who abuse or fire workers trying to form a union.
- The guarantee of a first contract for newly recognized bargaining units.
- Requiring companies to recognize a union if a majority of employees indicate they want one.
As Diecedue points out, CEOs and top executives wouldn’t think of working without a contract, yet they’re trying to deny the same bargaining power to employees. It’s creating a fundamental weakness in our economy as wages stagnate and benefits disappear.
Diecedue is right: The Employee Free Choice Act is essential to turning the economy around.
3 Comments
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That piece hits the nail on the head. Being from Chicago LL701 and now living in Texas (non union) shows how we all need to push forward the Employee Free Choice Act. Show Union Pride throughout the Country!!!
“When a worker does well, business does well.” Nothing more true could be said. But business wants to do well at the expense of the worker. Business owns the bus that the employee rides on. And most of them don’t want to even think about someone speaking up about how it’s being driven. Little lone about where it is going. I have a younger brother that works for a very large and well known pet food manufacture. From what he tells me about what happens where he works. It’s not a stretch for me to believe that the pets he makes food for are probably getting better treatment than he is. It’s hard for him to imagine when I tell him what would happen if they tried some to pull some of the same things where I work. But the reason they don’t is because we have a UNION! And we have a NEGOTIATED AGREEMENT! But most of all, we have a bunch of educated union officers and representatives that know how to stand up and represent their members!
In addition to the ” free choice act”, stronger laws need to be on the books to make it more difficult to lay employees off just to “boost” high profits , higher. Tens of millions of dollars today is just considered “chicken feed”. Spurned on by greed, corporations lay off tens of thousands. Not because of necessity but because the big shots at the top aren’t satisfied being multi-millionaires, they want to be billionaires. A recent trip to the supermarket I found a bottle of Kraft miracle whip for $6.19. At the same time they’re busy raising prices through the roof, they’re laying off union people to “boost” their profits and the economy is suffering because of it.
Besides higher paying jobs, they also need to be as stable as possible. The corporate dream of employees only staying on five years isn’t working out too well. ABC company gets fresh “new” employees that will work their tails off for the lowest starting wages but they can’t afford to buy what the company manufactures and that’s no good.