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Employee Free Choice Action Heats Up in the Grassroots
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John Martel, the president of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 740, is a Maine firefighter and one of the many union members around the country fully engaged in the grassroots fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and restore the freedom to form unions and bargain.
Martel took time to make the case for the Employee Free Choice Act by writing to his members of Congress and asking for quick passage. As Martel says:
It is important that we let our legislators know that the Employee Free Choice Act is something that we need to have as workers….We need to take action and level the playing field once and for all.
By writing to our legislators we can let them know that the ability to form and join a union is a right that should be guaranteed to all workers. As union members in Maine, we must take on the challenge of making sure all our fellow workers are able to enjoy the benefits of having a union.
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Jeff Israel, a United Steelworkers (USW) member in North Carolina, says that the interests who are opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act are coming up with a variety of misleading tactics to mask the fact that they don’t want workers empowered and seek to maintain an economy that favors the rich. Israel says it will take concerted grassroots pressure to cut through the spin of the naysayers and let elected leaders know that this is the change the country needs.
This is important legislation….We’re at a crossroads right now. For every great piece of social legislation, whether a woman’s right to vote or civil rights, somebody always says “Now is not the time.” But I say that now is precisely the time to stand up for workers. We need to push hard on our end to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, and the legislators we helped elect need to step up to the plate with us.
To help keep that pressure on lawmakers, letter-writing events will be held across the country next week, including Alaska, Arkansas and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, union members are reaching out to allies in the faith community and other organizations around the country. In Missouri last week, religious leaders and community members in the Kansas City area got a chance to hear from local nurses about the difficulty of trying to form a union. The nurses affiliated with Nurses United Local 5126 (an affiliate of AFT) more than a year ago but have yet to receive a first contract. Next Wednesday in Denver, Colorado Jobs with Justice and Interfaith Worker Justice will hold a community meeting to discuss the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.
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Employee Free Choice Act News and Press Release
Employee Free Choice Act: New Website Reveals http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.Org
WASHINGTON, March 6 /EFCAPRNewswire-EFCAUSNewswire/ — Employee Free Choice Act Now Launches Website to Educate Public on Card Check Legislation http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.Org , to help educate the public understand why the middle-class and workers need this very important legislation.
http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.Org will track the latest news from the mainstream media and social networking sites, highlight academic studies and contain video’s and interviews to expose Corporate Front Groups like the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, My Private Ballot,Save Our Secret Ballot,U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Employee Freedom Action Committee, Alliance For Worker AFW,Americans For Job Security just to name a few. In addition we will also look at the Union Busting Strategy behind the Employee Free Choice Act created by Navigators Global on behalf of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.
The Employee Free Choice Act does NOT seek to eliminate the secret ballot election. What it does is it give the employees rather than an employer the right to choose which method to use. Either a secret ballot election or a card check if the majority of workers wish to form or join a union.
The Employee Free Choice Act must be signed into law and soon. Recent studies show that it will help rebuild our economy. Leading Economists have all agreed the Employee Free Choice is Key to Rebuilding Economy The statement, signed by 39 of America’s top economists, including two Nobel Prize winners, points to the failure of U.S. labor laws to protect employees’ freedom to form a union and bargain as a major factor in our economic crisis. The statement says in part: Indeed, from 2000 to 2007, the income of the median working-age household fell by $2,000—an unprecedented decline. In that time, virtually all of the nation’s economic growth went to a small number of wealthy Americans. An important reason for the shift from broadly shared prosperity to growing inequality is the erosion of workers’ ability to form unions and bargain collectively.
Today a new report revealed that Unemployment hits 25-year high. The U.S. economy continued to hemorrhage jobs in February, bringing total job losses over the last six months to more than 3.3 million, and taking the unemployment rate to its highest level in 25 years.
“This new website http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.Org is an important tool in keeping the public informed and getting them involved in the political process so they can voice their support for this legislation.” stated Steve Maritas, Organizing Director for the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) http://www.SPFPA.ORG
The Truth About EFCA.Org is part of a multi-faceted new media campaign slated to help shed light on the “card check” issue and expose some of the misinformation being spread by corporate front groups who oppose the EFCA and who try to continue their control and lavish life styles. Besides tracking the latest news on EFCA, the http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.Org website contains a link to our blog with contributions from EFCA bloggers and special guests.
Website: http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.Org
For More Information on EFCA please visit our websites and blog
http://www.employeefreechoiceactnow.org
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/
http://efcaunionbustingclub.blogspot.com/
http://www.FreeChoiceActNow.Org
http://www.LaborUnionResources.Org
For more information on Employer FEAR, Coercion and Intimidation Union Busting Tactics Press Below
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/2009/02/just-say-no-to-employee-free-choice-act.html
Tags: Employee Free Choice Act, Employee Free Choice Act News, Free Choice Act, EFCA, Secret Ballot, Card Check, Corporate Front Groups, Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, My Private Ballot, Save our Secret Ballot,Navigators Global, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Employee Freedom Action Committee, Alliance For Worker AFW, Americans For Job Security, Union Busting, Union Avoidance, Fear Tactics, Labor Union, Union, SPFPA, Steve Maritas, Sphere: Related Content
Posted by Employee Free Choice Act Now . Org at 1:39 PM
Labels: card check, Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, Corporate Front Groups, EFCA, Employee Free Choice Act, Free Choice Act, My Private Ballot, Navigators Global, Save our Secret Ballot, Secret Ballot
I wrote about the supposed secret ballot in union elections without the Employee Free Chiioce act on my site Philadelphia progressive Examiner. Management threatened to lay us all off, they bribed people to vote no in the election and they held captive audience meetings the work place right now is little more than an banana republic dictatorship we need the EFCA