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Obama: We Should Make It Easier for Workers to Organize
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Although the focus on the Employee Free Choice Act is on the U.S. House and the Senate, it’s important to remember the reason we’re closer than ever to passing this critical bill is because working people turned out in huge numbers to elect a president who will sign it into law. We got a fresh reminder of that commitment yesterday when Barack Obama paid a visit to Costa Mesa, Calif., to discuss the economy.
In his comments at the Costa Mesa town hall meeting, Obama pointed out that making it easier for workers to form unions is critical to making the economy work for everyone again.
Robert Balgenorth, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of California, was among the attendees, and in a question and answer session, Balgenorth criticized the Bush administration’s failure to enforce prevailing wage laws and other protections for workers. Obama pointed to these protections as key to strengthening the middle class—and added that workers also must have the freedom to form unions if we’re going to build an economy that’s sustainable in the long term:
We think it is important that unions have the opportunity to organize themselves…the business press says that’s anti-business and whenever I hear that I’m always reminded of what Henry Ford said when he first started building the Model T, and he was paying his workers really well. And somebody asked him, they said, “Why are you paying your workers so well?” He said, “Well, if I don’t pay them well, they won’t be able to buy a car.”
…part of the problem with our economy, and the way it was growing, was that wages and incomes for ordinary working families were flat for the entire decade. Now, I don’t need to tell you this because you’ve experienced it in your own lives. You’ve just barely kept up with inflation while people at the very top…were seeing all the benefits.
When I say that we should make it easier for unions to organize, and observe Davis-Bacon [rules that ensure workers on federally funded building projects are paid a fair wage], all I’m trying to do is to restore some balance to our economy so that middle-class families who are working hard…should be able to save, buy a home, go on a vacation once in a while. They should be able to save for retirement, send their kids to college, that’s not too much to ask for. That’s the American dream, and the only way we get there is if we have bottom-up economic growth instead of top-down economic growth.
It should be no surprise at this point that Obama will work to protect the freedom to form unions and bargain—after all, both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have pledged their support over the past month—but it’s a delight every time it’s reaffirmed. When the Employee Free Choice Act passes, we have a president who will sign it into law. It’s what millions of workers fought for last year, and it’s what we need to turn around our economy.
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4 Comments
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There seems to be np parity between the unions and AIG. WHy is it that the auto workers were coerced into surrendering many of their benefits and the thieves at AIG got millions. Lets hope that Obama will recoup the mpney that those bums got. Otherwise we should let him know how we feel about it.
Employee Free Choice Act: “Reconciliation” is One way to Bypass Filibuster Rule in Senate if Republicans Seek Cloture on EFCA
Republicans are just saying “no” to the president’s budget plans without offering their own alternative.
Republicans and Corporate Front Groups such as the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace are just saying “no” to Workers Rights without offering their own alternative.
Republicans and Corporate Front Groups such as The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace are just saying “no” to The Employee Free Choice Act without offering their own alternative.
If Republicans and Corporate Front Groups such as the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace continue to say “no” and threaten to seek Cloture on the Employee Free Choice Act, then its time to ask the White House to use a tactic known as “Reconciliation” under Congressional Rule to eliminate the Republicans’ power to block legislation.
Employee Free Choice Act: “Reconciliation” is One way to Bypass Filibuster Rule in Senate if Republicans Seek Cloture on EFCA
WASHINGTON – EFCA/PRNEWS-The EFCA, seen as one of the most important pieces of legislation in support of labor rights in a generation, was introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on March 10th. The bill would allow unions to form when a majority of workers sign cards — a process dubbed “card check” — as opposed to drawn-out National Labor Board elections in which companies frequently subject workers to harassment and intimidation (the recent battle at Smithfield Foods in North Carolina being a sharp example of years of employer intimidation that jeopardized union elections.)
The EFCA is being called labor’s number one priority this year, and labor rights advocates say that the act’s passage could help to restore the balance between workers in their negotiations with employers. Although, the legislation is expected to sail through the House, the question remains whether the bill will get the 60 votes needed to prevent a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The act was first introduced in 2003 and won approval by a wide margin in the House in March 2007, but a Republican filibuster prevented it from coming up for a vote in the Senate. The bill also faced a veto threat from the Bush White House.
Today Powerful Corporate Front Groups such as the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, Chamber of Commerce, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), and Save our Secret Ballot are spending millions of dollars in one of the biggest Anti-Union Busting campaign in history hoping to wrench public opinion in their direction by spreading misinformation, about the Employee Free Choice Act.
These same Powerful Corporate Front Groups are also embarked on a multi-million dollar public Union Busting Fear and Intimidation campaign against targeted Senators in key states that included polling, television, radio and internet ads and direct mailings an effort to pressure them to vote against Cloture and The Employee Free Choice Act.
As for the pressure being put on Sen. Specter
Just the other day The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace Called on Senator Specter to Clarify his Position on the Employee Free Choice Act
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-13-2009/0004988372&EDATE=
A few days ago, appearing on MSNBC, Specter again restated that he has not come down, one way or another, on the current EFCA debate. But he added that his swing-vote status was “getting a little monotonous” and openly lamented the pressure coming from within his own party.
“They are threatening [me],” he said of Pennsylvania and national Republicans
Huntington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/19/labor-worried-that-pressu_n_176955.html
If these same Powerful Corporate Front Groups continue to use these Union Busting Fear and Intimidation campaign against these targeted Senators then maybe its time to ask the Labor Friendly White House to enact “Reconciliation” under Congressional Rule to to Bypass any Filibuster Rule in Senate if Republicans Seek Cloture on EFCA. By doing so we could eliminate the Republicans’ power to block legislation on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) by asking for a simple majority vote of the Senate.
The “reconciliation” process which allows measures to pass the Senate on simple majority votes is nothing new. The legislative tactic is being considered to push through President Obama’s global warming and health care programs, and perhaps his proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy.
Members of Congress are bracing for a political donnybrook should the Democrats use the reconciliation process to sidestep the Republicans and their power of the filibuster in the Senate on the Employee Free Choice Act. Under normal Senate rules, it requires 60 votes in the 100-member Senate to shut off debate and force a final vote. Democrats currently have 58 Senate votes. Under reconciliation, 51 votes can force anything through.
There is plenty of historical precedent of using it by both parties, including Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, who used it force through big tax cuts.
“Pretty much every major piece of budget legislation going back to April 1981, April ’82, April 1990, April 1993, the 1990 act, the 2001 tax legislation, they were all done through reconciliation.
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is made up of more than 500 associations and organizations from every state across the nation that have joined together to protect a Employers right to “Demand a Private Ballot Election” when workers decide whether or not to join or form a union. In 2008, CDW embarked on a multi-million dollar public Union Busting Fear and Intimidation campaign in key states that included polling, television, radio and internet ads and direct mail.
http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.Org
EFCA Blog http://efcanow.blogspot.com/
Tags: Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, Corporate Front Groups, Employee Free Choice Act, EFCA, Employee Free Choice,Free Choice, Free Choice Act, Republicans,Senators, Reconciliation, Filibuster, Navigators Global, My Private Ballot,Chamber of Commerce, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)
Posted by Employee Free Choice Act Now . Org at 5:19 AM
Labels: Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, Corporate Front Groups, EFCA, Employee Free Choice, Employee Free Choice Act, Filibuster, Free Choice, Free Choice Act, Reconciliation, Republicans, Senators
The President & the Sec. Treasurer pushed for the bonuses. Se. Dodd had written an amendment to prevent any bonuses, but he relunctantly, under protest had the amendment changed to allow the bonuses to go through.
http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/1131/skill-set-taking-the-south
THE ABOVE url was sent to me by a friend and organizer for Progressive Democrats of America. WE at Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) are developing an organizing drive known as a “Progressive Southern Strategy”. YOU who are reading this….may be interested in ‘tactics’ based on the Southern Culture and Common Sense Organizing.