DNC Takes Strong Stand for Employee Free Choice Act

The Democratic National Committee has unanimously passed a resolution calling for Congress and any new Democratic administration to make the Employee Free Choice Act a top priority in 2009.

The resolution further urges candidates and office-holders at all levels to actively and visibly support the legislation, and it calls on state and local Democratic committees to pass their own resolutions and fight for similar state laws and local ordinances.

"The most effective strategy for working men and women to get ahead economically is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits," the resolution states. "Collective bargaining is essential to democracy in the workplace and economic justice in the wider society."

The Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore workers' badly eroded bargaining and organizing rights, was passed by a wide margin in the U.S. House in March. It also has majority support in the Senate, but fell short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster in June.

"We are extremely pleased that the DNC shares our view that the Employee Free Choice Act is vital to rebuilding America's middle class," CWA President Larry Cohen said. "Workers' rights have been slipping away for three decades but for the past seven years, especially, employers have willfully and fearlessly broken the law to stop organizing drives and stall contract talks."

Cohen stressed that, "Any candidate CWA supports in the coming elections must be committed to passing – and in the case of the president, signing -- the Employee Free Choice Act."

The detailed resolution notes the illegal tactics and legal loopholes employers exploit to threaten, coerce and even fire union supporters, and states that "penalties for employer violations of workers' rights are so insignificant they do not deter even the most flagrant violations and are considered by most employers a minor cost of doing business."

The national resolution is just the latest in strong and growing support for the Employee Free Choice Act among Democrats across the country, In Minnesota, for instance, all four Democrats running for the U.S. Senate  – Mike Ciresi, Jim Cohen, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and comedian and talk radio host Al Franken – said they not only back the bill but would go even further.

The Minnesota candidates are running to replace Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, who was a key player in stopping the Employee Free Choice Act from getting a Senate vote.