Op-Ed Highlights: What Employee Free Choice Means for Workers, Economy

by Seth Michaels, Aug 27, 2009

Congress is still on recess, but the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act continues across the country and in the media. Here are two great op-eds that explain why we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Netsy Firestein, director of the Labor Project for Working Families, writes in the San Jose Mercury News that the freedom to form unions and bargain will help workers provide for their families:

America’s working families are locked in a time vise. Our work hours are getting longer, our paychecks and benefits are shrinking, and we are struggling to raise and care for our families. The surging unemployment rate is only adding to our anxiety about holding down a job while juggling work and family responsibilities.

The challenges are grave. However, as a long-time advocate of family friendly workplace policies, I see a perfect opportunity to create new workplace standards that are good for the bottom line and for our working families. It’s called the Employee Free Choice Act….

As the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act continues in Congress, we are likely to hear heated rhetoric about the relevance of unions in today’s economy and society. The evidence is clear. Unions make a significant difference in fostering workplaces that promote a healthy and viable balance between work life and home life.

In the Great Falls Tribune, Montana state Sen. Dave Wanzenried calls the Employee Free Choice Act both “a matter of fairness” and a critical policy to rebuild a health economy:

The health of our economy depends on workers receiving a fair share of the economic growth they help create. This keeps our consumer-driven economy running.

History shows us that the greatest prosperity for the greatest number of people in this country has been in periods when the greatest number of workers belonged to unions. Currently, workers belonging to unions make 28 percent more, are 52 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are nearly three times more likely to have defined-benefit pension plans than their non-union counterparts. According to data from the Small Business Administration, small businesses go bankrupt less frequently in states with high rates of union membership.

…labor has helped lift the standard of living for everyone and we should all be proud of that.

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