Sen. Franken Joins Senate, Co-Sponsors Employee Free Choice Act
 |
||||
|
||||
|
|
||||
Yesterday, after a long, hard campaign and almost eight months of vote counting and litigation, Al Franken was sworn in as the newest U.S. senator representing Minnesota. Then he signed on for the first time as co-sponsor of a bill—the Employee Free Choice Act.
Franken announced his co-sponsorship at a reception last night at the AFL-CIO, where Minnesota leaders like former Vice President Walter Mondale, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron helped union members and leaders welcome him to Washington, D.C.
Franken, a strong supporter of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain, said his membership in four unions—AFTRA, SAG, WGAE and DGA—gave him, wife Franni and his family the opportunities that all working families deserve:
Because of my membership in those unions, Franni and I had health care during the campaign. Because of my membership in those unions, we have a pension.
We need to level the playing field. Unions built the middle class in this country, but we’ve seen the playing field become a steep hill. We’ve seen a great risk shift in this country.
