Middle class needs Free Choice Act
Broad coalition supports key bill
In Washington, D.C., the "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act" campaign includes billboards and 50-foot-tall building banners featuring union members explaining why the Employee Free Choice Act is needed for all workers. Photo provided by Communications Workers of America.
With workplace fairness and economic inequality growing concerns, churches, communities and members of Congress are gearing up to pass the Employee Free Choice Act this year.
The proposed legislation will strengthen the country's middle class by making union membership a possibility for millions of workers. With the law's majority sign-up provision, workers can freely associate with the union of their choice, without employer interference.
Many experts point to the 29,000 workers illegally coerced or harassed by their employer using the current process in the year 2007 as examples of why change is needed.
"Opening opportunities for union membership will let more working families have a decent standard of living, rebuild our economy and strengthen the middle class," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi.
Benefits of unionization
Studies show unionized workers earn 30 percent more than non-union workers. Workers with a union contract are 59 percent more likely to be covered by employer-provided health insurance.
Across the country, a broad coalition of groups is expressing support for this fundamental change.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Council on Islamic-American Relations, the Catholic Labor Network and the Jewish Labor Committee are some of the religious-affiliated groups that have endorsed the bill.
Communities are also expressing their support. The City of Oneonta Common Council recently passed a resolution in support.
Council member Mike Lynch, a NYSUT labor relations specialist, said members of NYSUT, UUP and CSEA were there to offer support.
A national group of historians, including several members of United University Professions — NYSUT's affiliate at the State University of New York — signed a national statement supporting the bill.
Randi Storch, an active UUP member at SUNY Cortland, is one of them.
"Working people who want to join unions are being intimidated, harassed and fired by their employers," she said, describing America's labor laws as "broken and one-sided."
The Employee Free Choice Act, she said, "is our chance to bring dignity to millions of our fellow working people."
What you can do
All the members of New York's congressional delegation have expressed their support for Employee Free Choice, except for Long Island Rep. Peter King and freshman Rep. Chris Lee from western New York, both of whom oppose it.
NYSUT members are urged to remind their Washington representatives of their support for the bill by using the AFT www.aft.org and AFL-CIO www.aflcio.org Web sites to e-mail messages to legislators.
"Every day we see people in our communities working hard but without a voice on the job or benefits for their family," Iannuzzi said.
"They need a level playing field so they can join a union, if they want. Passing the Employee Free Choice Act will make a difference for them and all of us."