Coerced, Harassed, Suspended: A Virginia Worker’s Case for Employee Free Choice

by Seth Michaels, May 18, 2009

Billy Mason, a Virginia factory worker, is one of the thousands of workers who has suffered unfair treatment while trying to exercise the freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life.

Writing in southeast Virginia’s Daily Press, Mason talks vividly about the struggles he went through to form a union.

Imagine a football game between one team with cleats, helmets and shoulder pads playing another that doesn’t have any equipment at all. It’s not only that companies have all kinds of advantages, but also that workers are so vulnerable to abuse. The Employee Free Choice Act will help even the playing field.

I’ve been through two organizing campaigns, and I hope my experience will explain why we desperately need this legislation.

Mason explains how he and his co-workers at a Hampton manufacturing plant got overwhelming support to form a union to bargain for better benefits and fair wages. However, management took full advantage of its power to launch a vicious anti-union campaign, holding mandatory meetings and threatening employees. Despite winning the support of two-thirds of workers at the plant during the petition drive, the workers hoping to form a union lost the election. After the election, Mason was illegally suspended by his company, like so many other workers trying to exercise their basic freedoms.

There’s a saying that workers can either bargain collectively or beg individually. I’m scared that because of the economy, workers will be less likely to stand up individually. They’ll believe they’re lucky to have a job, and they’ll accept whatever corporations throw at them. With the economy teetering on the edge, this is the time to empower workers.

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