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Grassroots Action Around the Country for Employee Free Choice |
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| The fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act continues in Arkansas and other states. Below, Tim Strong, president of CWA Local 4900 in Indiana, explains the bill. |
As the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act takes place in Washington, D.C., union members and allies are hard at work around the country to help pass this critical legislation to level the playing field for workers seeking to form unions.
At the Huffington Post, the AFL-CIO’s Stewart Acuff reports that members of the Arkansas Conference of Black Mayors are joining civil rights leaders, religious leaders, small business owners and union members from across the state in asking their senators to support workers by voting for the Employee Free Choice Act.
In North Carolina, Larry Murray of the Steelworkers (USW) says the fight for employee free choice is a top priority throughout his union and the entire union movement because its passage means an economy that works for everyone:
“The Employee Free Choice Act is vitally important because on top of the poor economic situation, the playing field is not level. Companies have an enormous advantage in the current system.”
In Indiana, Tim Strong, president of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 4900, is yet another leader getting involved in the fight for passage of the bill. In an informative video, he explains why the Employee Free Choice Act is critically necessary to make sure corporations don’t suppress workers’ freedom to join a union and bargain for a fair contract:
We need to create incentives for employers to come to the table and negotiate so that workers can bargain for living wages, good health care, pensions and benefits. Working people like us deserve to have a choice and a fair chance to join a union.
In California, Pride at Work, an AFL-CIO constituency group, and Stonewall Democrats, are reaching out to their members of Congress this week, meeting with congressional staff in San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles, as well as continuing to gather support through their website, SharedAgenda.org.
In Miami, Transport Workers (TWU) locals 291, 561, 568 and 570 held a Congressional Forum last week to educate House members from South Florida about the Employee Free Choice Act and other key issues.
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I recently posted some comments on EFCA, in which I said that I had worked at an upstate New York supermarket. I reported that this chain had been guilty of numerous violations of employee rights, that this chain had been guilty of union busting in the most obvious way. But I also reported that many of the people at this store say they will vote against any attempt to unionize their stores because of what they describe as extremely negative experiences with the union and its representatives at other stores they worked in. I have to add that my experience has been that union reps have been in bed with management on many occasions.
I wanted to know what exactly I should be saying to people who report that their unions have been useless or worse.
Maybe I violated your guidelines by mentioning the name of the store chain. On the other hand, I think it has been the conduct of many unions that made it possible for management and the far right to campaign to get rid of unions, and it is up to the unions to decide whether they want workers to support them or not. I think it is important for workers to support the unions, but the workers may not feel this way, especially if the union’s management doesn’t really seem to have the workers’ true interests in mind.