Congressional Backing Grows For Employee Free Choice Act

Support in the U.S. Congress for workers' rights to form unions and bargain collectively continued to grow as CWA and thousands of other labor activists geared up for a week of workplace and community actions June 28-July 4 in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

CWA members across the country wore stickers to work proclaiming, "I'll fight for the FREEDOM to have unions" as they distributed and collected postcards from colleagues thanking Senator John Kerry for supporting the measure, H.R. 3619 introduced in the House by Representative George Miller (D-Calif.) and S. 1925, in the Senate by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). They collected thousands of other postcards to be sent to President Bush, urging him to get behind the legislation.

"I cannot sufficiently emphasize the importance of what you are doing," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "This legislation would reverse 30 years of deterioration in the effectiveness of our labor laws, making it possible on a much broader scale for workers to organize through card check campaigns, and would impose stiffer penalties on management when it interferes with the process."

As the CWA News went to press the latest count for co-sponsors was 204 in the House and 31 in the Senate. They are listed below:

House Democrats

Neil Abercrombie (HI), Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá (PR), Gary L. Ackerman (NY), Rodney Alexander (LA), Thomas H. Allen, (ME), Robert E. Andrews (NJ), Joe Baca (CA), Brian Baird (WA), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Xavier Becerra (CA), Chris Bell (TX), Shelley Berkley (NV), Howard L. Berman (CA), Marion Berry (AR), Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA), Timothy H. Bishop (NY), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Leonard L. Boswell (IA), Rick Boucher (VA), Robert Brady (PA), Corrine Brown (FL), Sherrod Brown (OH), Lois Capps (CA), Michael E. Capuano (MA), Benjamin Cardin (MD), Dennis A. Cardoza (CA), Brad Carson (OK), Julia Carson (IN), Ed Case (HI), Ben Chandler (KY), Donna Christensen (VI), William Lacy Clay (MO), James E. Clyburn (SC), John Conyers, Jr. (MI), Jim Cooper (TN), Jerry F. Costello (IL), Robert (Bud) Cramer, Jr. (AL), Joseph Crowley (NY), Elijah E. Cummings (MD), Artur Davis (AL), Danny K. Davis (IL), Jim Davis (FL), Lincoln Davis (TN), Susan A. Davis (CA), Peter A. DeFazio (OR), Diana DeGette (CO), William D. Delahunt (MA), Rosa L. DeLauro (CT), Peter Deutsch (FL), Norman D. Dicks (WA), John D. Dingell (MI), Michael F. Doyle (PA), Chet Edwards (TX), Rahm Emanuel (IL), Eliot L. Engel (NY), Anna G. Eshoo (CA), Bob Etheridge (NC), Lane Evans (IL), Sam Farr (CA), Chaka Fattah (PA), Bob Filner (CA), Harold E. Ford, Jr. (TN), Barney Frank (MA), Martin Frost (TX), Richard A. Gephardt (MO), Charles A. Gonzalez (TX), Gene Green (TX), Raul M. Grijalva (AZ), Luis V. Gutierrez (IL), Jane Harman (CA), Alcee L. Hastings (FL), Baron P. Hill (IN), Maurice D. Hinchey (NY), Ruben Hinojosa (TX), Joseph M. Hoeffel (PA), Tim Holden (PA), Rush D. Holt (NJ), Michael M. Honda (CA), Darlene Hooley (OR), Steny H. Hoyer (MD), Jay Inslee (WA), Steve Israel (NY), Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (IL), Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX), William J. Jefferson (LA), Christopher John (LA), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH), Paul E. Kanjorski (PA), Marcy Kaptur (OH), Patrick J. Kennedy (RI), Dale E. Kildee (MI), Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (MI), Ron Kind (WI), Gerald D. Kleczka (WI), Dennis J. Kucinich (OH), Nick Lampson (TX), James R. Langevin (RI), Tom Lantos (CA), Rick Larsen (WA), John B. Larson (CT), Barbara Lee (CA), Sander M. Levin (MI), John Lewis (GA), William O. Lipinski (IL), Zoe Lofgren (CA), Nita M. Lowey (NY), Stephen F. Lynch (MA), Denise L. Majette (GA), Carolyn B. Maloney (NY), Edward J. Markey (MA), Jim Marshall (GA), Jim Matheson (UT), Robert T. Matsui (CA), Carolyn McCarthy (NY), Karen McCarthy (MO), Betty McCollum (MN), Jim McDermott (WA), James P. McGovern (MA), Michael R. McNulty (NY), Martin T. Meehan (MA), Kendrick B. Meek (FL), Gregory W. Meeks (NY), Robert Menendez (NJ), Michael H. Michaud (ME), Juanita Millender-McDonald (CA), Brad Miller (NC), George Milles (CA), Alan B. Mollohan (WV), Dennis Moore (KS), James P. Moran (VA), John P. Murtha (PA), Jerrold Nadler (NY), Grace F. Napolitano (CA), Richard E. Neal (MA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), James L. Oberstar (MN), David R. Obey (WI), John W. Olver (MA), Solomon P. Ortiz (TX), Major R. Owens (NY), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ), Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ), Ed Pastor (AZ), Donald M. Payne (NJ), Nancy Pelosi (CA), Collin C. Peterson (MN), Earl Pomeroy (ND), David E. Price (NC), Nick J. Rahall, II (WV), Charles B. Rangel (NY), Silvestre Reyes (TX), Ciro Rodriguez (TX), Mike Ross (AR), Steve R. Rothman (NJ), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD), Bobby L. Rush (IL), Tim Ryan (OH), Martin Olav Sabo (MN), Linda T. Sanchez (CA), Loretta Sanchez (CA), Bernard Sanders (VT), Max Sandlin (TX), Janice D. Schakowsky (IL), Adam B. Schiff (CA), David Scott (GA), Robert C. Scott (VA), Jose E. Serrano (NY), Brad Sherman (CA), Rob Simmons (CT), Louise McIntosh Slaughter (NY), Adam Smith (WA), Hilda L. Solis (CA), Ike Skelton (MO), John M. Spratt, Jr. (SC), Fortney Pete Stark (CA), Ted Strickland (OH), Bart Stupak (MI), Ellen O. Tauscher (CA), Bennie G. Thompson (MS), John F. Tierney (MA), Edolphus Towns (NY), Mark Udall (CO), Tom Udall (NM), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Nydia M. Velazquez (NY), Peter J. Visclosky (IN), Maxine Waters (CA), Diane E. Watson (CA), Melvin L.Watt (NC), Henry A. Waxman (CA), Anthony D. Weiner (NY), Robert Wexler (FL), Lynn C. Woolsey (CA), David Wu (OR), Albert Russell Wynn (MD)

House Republicans

Frank W. Ballance, Jr. (NC), Peter T. King (NY), Steve C. LaTourette (OH), John M. McHugh (NY), Jack Quinn (NY), Christopher H. Smith (NJ), John Sweeney (NY)

Senate Democrats

Daniel K. Akaka (HI), Evan Bayh (IN), Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (DE), Jeff Bingaman (NM), Barbara Boxer (CA), Maria Cantwell (WA), Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY), Kent Conrad (ND), Jon Corzine (NJ), Mark Dayton (MN), Christopher J. Dodd (CT), Byron L. Dorgan (ND), Richard J. Durbin (IL), John Edwards (NC), Russell D. Feingold (WI), Tom Harkin (IA), Daniel K. Inouye (HI), Edward Kennedy (MA), John F. Kerry (MA), Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ), Patrick J. Leahy (VT), Carl Levin (MI), Joseph I. Lieberman (CT), Barbara A. Mikulski (MD), Patty Murray (WA), John F. Reed (RI), Jay Rockefeller (WV), Paul S. Sarbanes (MD), Charles E. Schumer (NY), Debbie Stabenow (MI), Ron Wyden (OR)

So far, there are no Senate Republican co-sponsors.