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Veterans, Small Business Owners Step up Fight for Employee Free Choice |
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Military veterans in Maine, Arkansas and around the country are calling for quick passage of the Employee Free Choice Act this week. In cooperation with national veterans groups, these veterans are holding meetings, writing letters and speaking about the need to restore the basic freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life.
Stephen Jackson, a Vietnam veteran from North Carolina who is both the commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 4312 and a member of Steelworkers (USW) Local 1283, took to the pages of the Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald in a great op-ed on the Employee Free Choice Act:
The men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our country deserve a chance to be a part of the American dream. They deserve a job that puts food on the table and a roof over the family’s heads. They deserve benefits so that they and their families can be healthy and thrive. They deserve the right to join any organization that will help improve their situation. They deserve to have the chance to be a part of the middle class and help rebuild our economy…
The Employee Free Choice Act will give veterans a better chance when they get back home to get better jobs with better benefits, and a better shot at the middle class. I support the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s my way of honoring those who served our country.
Small business owners are stepping up their support of the freedom to form unions, with the latest small business roundtable in Booneville, Ind., yesterday.
In key states around the nation, union members are taking part in “working lunches,” writing letters to members of Congress urging them to support the Employee Free Choice Act. In Sacramento, union members will hold a vigil, starting this afternoon and continuing overnight, to support the Employee Free Choice Act; they will use the time to write letters to members of Congress.
In Virginia, Working America is adding thousands of new members and has collected more than 1,500 letters in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Rachel Coyler, who directs Working America’s canvassing in Northern Virginia, says she and her staff are finding Virginians concerned about the economy and interested in making it work for everyone:
We’re out every day talking to people about the bill and dispelling some of the misinformation and giving them the facts. We’re finding that once people understand the legislation, most people are behind employees’ right to choose how to form a union, and a lot of our members are willing to tell Sens. [Mark] Warner and [Jim] Webb so by writing a brief letter to them.
People believe that the middle class needs a fairer shot and now’s the time to give it to them.
Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO’s tireless Stewart Acuff is traveling in support of the grassroots campaign for Employee Free Choice, from Alaska to Arkansas to Massachusetts. It’s an exciting time and a real opportunity for new labor law that respects and protects workers and makes the economy work for everyone.
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EFCA Compromise Coming?
Specter Eyes support for Employee Free Choice Act EFCA Bill http://bit.ly/Jec4C
Amending The Employee Free Choice Act. A Compromise Every Union Can Live With.
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/2009/01/amending-employee-free-choice-act.html
If there was ever a time for the Employee Free Choice Act, that time is now. Not only is it nearly impossible to form a union without fear and intimidation by employers, but union-busting has grown into a $4 billion a year business in the U.S. alone.
Companies that previously had good relationships with their union employees have been emboldened by weak labor laws. One of those is the McGraw-Hill Companies. Read more at:
http://nabetcwa54.org
Go to http://action.democratz.org and sign the petition demanding the enactment of EFCA into law.
I also just created this petition today.
Take Action! Congress and the President must enact a new prescription drug benefit in Medicare Part B. - http://tinyurl.change.org/FOmWO
I am hopeful the Employee Free Choice Act passes, but I am leery; very leery. Some of the supporters in congress have flipped positions. What should be a “slam dunk” is not happening that way.
Unions, workers and the general public should raise hell and a lot of it. they should actively push the bill as is and not a watered down version that might be popping up any day.
Politicans should be helt accountable next election on all levels of government. In Missouri, the anti workers folks in the statehouse have proposed a constitutional admendment against the Workers Free Choice Act. Missouri is not alone in this anti-worker trend, other states have simular proposals.
I for one am getting very tired of our politicans believing workers should live with increasingly “third world” wages and benefits while the Wall Street crowd gets increasingly richer.
I am curious about small business people supporting EFCA. The ones I’ve talked to seem quite opposed to it. They think it will cause wages to go up too much and price them out of competition. Who are the small businesses that support it, and what are their reasons?
As as hard working American since age of 10 being raised on a farm, I have worked union and non union jobs. Now semi retired, I get pensions from the union employment and nothing from any non union job. Looking back? Only work under union representation.
I did a little looking into the 4 person small business panel that met in Boonville. Two people worked for the same company, which company supplies things for unions such as pins, bumper stickers, etc. One was a farmer, and the other person worked for a fortune 500 company (this person is also heavily involved in state politics). So, if you include the farmer, there were really only two small businesses represented.
I don’t know how many small businesses Boonville has, but this can’t be a very high percentage. I think we can show a little more credibility than this!