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Low-Wage Workers Need Employee Free Choice to Join Middle Class
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Low-wage workers would benefit the most from the better benefits, wages and on-the-job treatment that come with forming a union and bargaining—yet these workers are also the most vulnerable to anti-union coercion and intimidation from their bosses. So Jobs with Justice (JwJ), along with a broad coalition of community groups, is hitting Capitol Hill today to push for the Employee Free Choice Act and the freedom to bargain.
Workers and advocates from around the country are visiting senators and letting them know the facts about why this bill is critical to restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain. JwJ kicked off the day with a briefing featuring author Barbara Ehrenreich, experts on labor policy and the workforce and workers who have fought to form unions.
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As Ehrenreich says, our nation’s economic crisis can be traced back to declining conditions for the millions of workers at the mercy of bosses and whose wages and benefits aren’t enough to get ahead.
We’ve been so unequal as a society that it’s collapsing out from under us. Easy credit became a substitute for decent wages.
This is related to a sharp decline in bargaining power—workers have no power and no rights in the workplace. The Employee Free Choice Act, Ehrenreich says, is both a human rights measure and an economic stimulus measure.
Ai-Jen Poo, an advocate for domestic workers, says the home health aides, housekeepers and others she works with are enthusiastic about the Employee Free Choice Act. The conditions they face—long hours, low wages, poor treatment and a lack of security and stability on the job—are, unfortunately, spreading to the rest of the workforce and that’s why we need the Employee Free Choice Act:
Everyone in the community has a stake in the Employee Free Choice Act. Unions are the first line of defense against greed. We all have a stake in protecting the basic human right to collectively bargain—this is about long-term sustainability and survival for working people.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker says it’s critical that workers, not their bosses, are the ones to make the decision about forming a union.
It’s very clear that one of the solutions that will help workers be able to bargain their way into the middle class, not borrow their way into the middle class, is giving them the ability to freely form a union. Workers must be at the table…it’s about dignity, it’s about bargaining power and it’s about improving our communities.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, pointed to the housing crisis, and its roots in the “persistent problem” of stagnating wages, as one of the many reasons why we need the Employee Free Choice Act to strengthen the economy.
In the end, what matters is, do workers get a piece of the profits they’re creating? We have a middle class because workers who create wealth get a share. That’s just basic fairness…but there’s been a break in the connection between productivity and workers’ wages.
If you want a strong middle class and a more prosperous society, you have to build from the bottom.
Brown said that the misconceptions and falsehoods spread about the Employee Free Choice Act are coming from the same people who have opposed workers’ compensation, family, leave, the minimum wage and other protections for workers.
Kim Gandy of the National Organization for Women (NOW) says there’s a huge difference in benefits and wages for low-wage workers who have unions compared with nonunion workers, and this is especially true for women.
Gandy talked about the disadvantages workers face when trying to form a union—they are up against a “cottage industry” of anti-union consultants and high-paid lawyers whose goal is to block workers from forming unions and who are dumping millions into scare tactics and misinformation. Gandy said the campaign is comparable to the insurance companies’ misleading, big-dollar fight against health care reform in the early 1990s.
Dr. Heidi Hartmann, an economic researcher and president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, says the economy has taken a big hit because historically unionized sectors like manufacturing are shrinking relative to those not as heavily unionized, like retail, hospitality and health services. The Employee Free Choice Act, Hartmann says, will create opportunities for these workers to get a fair share of the economy:
One of the real advantages of unions is that not only do they improve conditions for workers in unions, but they impact social and economic progress for all of us.
Johanna Moon, one of the workers at the briefing, has waited two years for a contract after joining the UAW in a successful union campaign among casino dealers at Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza. She and her co-workers tried to form a union to address poor benefits, low wages and unhealthy working conditions, and won representation by a 2-to-1 margin despite pressure from management. Yet without the Employee Free Choice Act, she says, there’s no way to get management to sit down at the table with workers. Execs are getting contracts with bonuses while workers aren’t getting fair treatment, Moon says.
We wanted representation because our company wasn’t looking out for our best interests. We shouldn’t have to wait to bargain for a better life.
Holt Baker reiterated that the Employee Free Choice Act is an urgent priority that’s necessary if we’re going to continue to have a strong middle class and work our way toward economic recovery.
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Newt Gingrich Is a Babbling Idiot Who Doesn’t Understand The Employee Free Choice Act EFCA or Is Just Lying?
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/
Newt Gingrich Who Arbitrates? The Arbitrators NOT The Federal Government!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has a column in today’s Politico, “Arbitration the real threat in EFCA,” that raises important objections to the binding arbitration provisions in the Employee Free Choice Act.
However, the Speaker LIED when he states that legislation would force politicized, National Labor Relations Board arbitrators into the employer-union negotiation process.
IT DOES NOT!
Here’s the relevant passage from the text of the bill, S. 560, specifically Sec. 3, “Facilitating Initial Collective Bargaining Agreements.” Our emphasis.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:SN00560:|/bss/111search.html|
`(2) If after the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date on which bargaining is commenced, or such additional period as the parties may agree upon, the parties have failed to reach an agreement, either party may notify the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service of the existence of a dispute and request mediation. Whenever such a request is received, it shall be the duty of the Service promptly to put itself in communication with the parties and to use its best efforts, by mediation and conciliation, to bring them to agreement.
(3) If after the expiration of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which the request for mediation is made under paragraph (2), or such additional period as the parties may agree upon, the Service is not able to bring the parties to agreement by conciliation, the Service shall refer the dispute to an arbitration board established in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Service. The arbitration panel shall render a decision settling the dispute and such decision shall be binding upon the parties for a period of 2 years, unless amended during such period by written consent of the parties.’.
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service http://www.fmcs.gov/internet/ is NOT the National Labor Relations Board and it’s not the Department of Labor, it’s an independent agency within the Executive Branch.
Its arbitrators are not permanent agency appointees. As the FMCS explains (in a 2006 publication):
http://www.fmcs.gov/assets/files/Public%20Affairs/FMCS%20Brochures/146-Arbitration.pdf
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) maintains a roster of approximately 1,400 arbitrators, who are experienced practitioners with backgrounds in collective bargaining and who meet FMCS arbitration requirements. To be listed on the roster, FMCS will determine whether the applicant:
Is experienced, competent and acceptable in decision-making roles in the resolution of labor relations disputes; or
Has extensive and recent experience in relevant positions in collective bargaining; and
Is capable of conducting an orderly hearing, can analyze testimony and exhibits and can prepare clear and concise findings and awards within reasonable time limits.
http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2009/04/37467.php
http://www.TheTruthAboutEFCA.org
Tags: Employee Free Choice Act, EFCA, Employee Free Choice, EFCA Binding Arbitration, Newt Gingrich, Gingrich, Former House Speaker, Newt,Arbitration the real threat in EFCA, Politico
Labels: Arbitration the real threat in EFCA, EFCA, EFCA Binding Arbitration, Employee Free Choice, Employee Free Choice Act, Former House Speaker, Gingrich, Newt, Newt Gingrich, Politico
WalMart employees deserve to be able to exercise their rights under the law, without fear of retaliation. Many of the WalMart employees I have spoken with have expressed a desire to work in a union environment, but know that their company is adamantly opposed to any union activity, and fear getting fired over supporting a union organizing drive. They’ve seen how WalMart just closes down the shop or eliminates the jobs of the folks who have been successful. They never seem to get to that crucial first contract. The Employee Free Choice Act will give those workers the undeniable right to join or form a union, and penalize employers who would try to crush their efforts.
Newt Gingrich is not a babbling idiot, he’s a union-buster and supply-side economic adherent.
WRT: Wal-Mart. It sounds to me like the AFL-CIO is begging for help. What kind of federation of workers begs to a capitalist government for help?
Keep it up & all the workers will wind up holding the short end of the stick again. There won’t be an EFCA.
Ok, here’s the multiple choice question of the day:
Do you prefer being screwed by a (check one)
_____Republican
_____Democrat
_____Nobody!
When it comes to critical legislation, working men and women wind up being screwed. Oh sure, lawmakers toss us a meatless bone now and then, but they then turn around and give a whole cow to corporate America..
And with growing frequency Democrats are joining their Republican colleagues in that wholly unholy alliance, the motto of which is “follow the money”.
Just the other day I was seated at a table with seven other working stiffs. I put this question to them: “Can anyone tell me what Congress has done in recent years that benefits any of us”?
Oops.
Nary a reply.
I asked the same question about Congressional “gifts” to corporate America. The answers came in a thundering broadside. Laws that allow companies to rob workers of their pensions. Free trade schemes that encourage businesses to close shop here in the US and move our jobs offshore. Protection of the medical-industry complex at the expense of the well-being of everyday folks like us. Tax forgiveness contrivances for corporations and their wealthy stockholders while essential human services go under-funded. And wars that make multi-billionaires out of billionaire war profiteers..
We working class people are not asking for free rides. All we want is access to the bus. We want an even playing field. We want the blood, sweat and tears of past, present, and future generations to be valued in the same way that rich heirs of privilege and the sacks full of money they lavish on Washington, D.C. state capitals, and county administration buildings are valued.
Ultimately, we must take a collective look in the mirror and ask ourselves these questions: Have I been complacent? Have I been apathetic? Have I been swayed by the hateful noise of right-wing apologists and henchmen for neoconservative capitalists? Have I been true to my class or have I succumbed to the divide and conquer tactics of those who seek to keep us under their thumbs? Have I voted in my own best interests (and therefore in the best interests of other working class folks) or have I voted as directed by my preacher, my employer, or some nutso on radio or television?
We are our on salvation. It won’t be Democrats or Republicans. It will be us! But first we need to recall this phrase from our Declaration of Independence: “…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” “Men” in this instance means humanity.
Get it? We own those seats in Congress. We hire (elect) people to represent us, but only with our “consent”. When is the last time anyone in Congress even bothered to get your opinion on an issue? Are we ever asked to give our ‘consent” on anything?
Well, actually the answer is yes. When we elect people we are theoretically giving them our “consent” to act in our interests. That, however, is where “consent” ends. We are only courted around election time. The rest of their terms are spent raising campaign funds or stirring the pot in order to trash the other Party. We get ignored.
To those of us who answered “Nobody!” to the multiple choice question (above) here is our duty: Let our Members of Congress know that if they fail to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act, we’ll do all we can to defeat them in the next election. We must write letters to our local newspapers that either congratulate politicians who support the EFCA, or condemn those who don’t. It makes no difference which Party they belong to. Let’s face it, when you turn over Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) or Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) you’ll find someone like Sen. John Kyl (R AZ) or Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on the other side of the rock. The same is true of creeps like Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK). Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is on the other side of that rock.
All Republicans and every Democrat whose nose is buried in the south end of a Republican heading north should be thrown out of office. They should be replaced by lawmakers who will honor the intent of “consent of the governed”.
Let’s get busy! It’s up to us!
The only thing missing is direct action from organized and unorganized labor in forcing the issue. Our Congressional representatives and senators will have NO choice but to pass EFCA if we mobilize and demand passage!
We have become too complacent. We are willing to spend days on end calling, e-mailing and writing to our elected leaders. Enough already! Let’s do an action that will not be forgotten! Closing down traffic in D.C. with thousands of union workers and their supporters will give the politcians a lot to think about! The U.S. labor movement is forgetting it’s origins! We must take to the streets!
Another huge reason for wage depression is ilegal aliens. So why do the unions want amnesty? More members? EXCUSE ME! Just what do they think flooding the workplace with 20-50 million newly legal workers will do? That will cause wages to drop like arock, not to mention inviting the rest of Mexico/Central/South America to start heading North for their amnesty.
Keep votin the same old folks back to Washington and this is what you will get more of the same.Keep lookin to the AFL-CIO to help the workin man and you will get more of the same.None of these fools work for us until a majority of us welome the Independent Party and vote some of these fools out nothing will change.Keep voting Democratic,keep voting Republican and you can blame yourself when the country comes apart.All the AFL-CIO wants is more dues paying members and they do not care where they come from they’ll screw over them too.