Gerard, Bacon: History Shows Why We Need Employee Free Choice Act

by Seth Michaels, Apr 16, 2009

In two terrific recent articles, United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard and labor journalist David Bacon make the case that the Employee Free Choice Act is legislation that will help our economy work for everyone again.

On the Campaign for America’s Future blog, Gerard takes a hard look at the pattern of corporate hostility to both government oversight and workers’ freedom to form unions and how that fraudulent argument has undermined our economy. Gerard says we need a return to “common endeavor” so working families can counterbalance the overwhelming power of corporations and bargain for a fair stake in the economy. And that means passing the Employee Free Choice Act:

Simply put, employers wield considerable strength, and workers must be able to unionize so wage and benefit negotiations occur on a more even playing field. There’s power in common endeavor.

In 1935, in the depth of the Great Depression, the government encouraged workers to use their power to obtain better wages. It did that because better wages to many would help end the depression for all.

Just like in 1935, workers now need unions to help them secure better wages, which will, in the end, be good for the country because it will improve the economy.

For that to happen, though, the Employee Free Choice Act must pass. Workers must have the right, once again, to choose how they want to form their own organizations.

Writing at Truthout.org, Bacon says the original National Labor Relations Act, passed during the Depression, was aimed at encouraging workers to form unions and bargain and protecting their right to do so. That freedom has come under attack, Bacon says, from corporate leaders who want to keep their overwhelming control over the workplace and the economy. Under the guise of protecting workers’ rights, Bacon says, Big Business is trying to prevent workers from having a say in the workplace. Says Bacon:

We need a reality check about what actually happens when workers try to organize. The Employee Free Choice Act is a practical and necessary way to reestablish workers’ rights in practice, not just on paper.

Bacon details the vicious anti-union campaigns of coercion, delay and even illegal firing that are all too common in today’s workplaces and discusses how the provisions of the Employee Free Choice Act would level the playing field and put the choice in workers’ hands, not their bosses’.

Both pieces are valuable arguments in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, examining the lessons of history and the troubles facing our economy. And the conclusion is clear: it’s time to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)