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Employee Free Choice Act Sets Stage for Dec. 10
CWA President Morton Bahr and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney joined workers and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Nov. 13, to unveil legislation that will be the centerpiece of Dec. 10 events launching a nationwide campaign to restore workers' freedom to form unions.
The bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), would ensure that when a majority of employees in a workplace decide to form a union, they can do so without the debilitating obstacles employers now use to thwart organizing drives and stall contract negotiations. At least 29 other members of Congress have signed onto the legislation as cosponsors.
"It's time, in fact it's way past time, that we demand for workers in America the basic legal, labor and human rights by which we judge other nations around the world: the freedom of association and the freedom to bargain collectively," Miller said.
Kennedy pointed out that union workers earn wages 25 percent higher than nonunion workers, are four times as likely to have a secure pension plan and 40 percent more likely to have health insurance. Yet, he said, the National Labor Relations Board reported that 30,000 workers were fired for union organizing within a two-year period. The legislation calls for stiff penalties for such activity.
"When you say that American workers have the right to organize, it has to be the real right to organize, and that is what this bill is all about," Kennedy said.
Bahr gave examples of "high-road" employers who have been successful while respecting workers' right to organize through card check: AT&T and Cingular wireless, Kaleida Health and New Mexico state; and he pointed to "low-road" employers where workers are intimidated or fired for organizing and cannot obtain first contracts, such as Comcast and the Chinese Daily News.
He pointed out that union busting has become the nation's "fastest growing industry" and called for workers and communities to rally behind the new legislation. "We can no longer be hypocrites," Bahr said.
According to Cornell University research, under current law, one quarter of private sector employers fire at least one worker during a union organizing campaign, and 90 percent of employers actively exert pressure to keep workers from forming a union. Under current law, an employer can delay and challenge the results of NLRB elections and delay bargaining a first contract indefinitely.
The new legislation would allow workers to choose to form a union by showing majority support through card check. It would provide that if an employer and a union are engaged in bargaining for a first contract and do not reach agreement within 90 days, either party may refer the dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; if mediation is unsuccessful after 30 days, the FMCS may refer the dispute to binding arbitration.
It would provide for mandatory court injunctions against employers for firings, intimidation or other interference with workers' right to organize or while bargaining a first contract, would require employers to pay triple back pay to workers fired or discriminated against during an organizing campaign, and calls for civil fines up to $20,000 per violation for willful or repeated violations of workers' rights during organizing or first contract drives.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said the right to bargain collectively is "a fundamental human right. It is a civil right millions of workers have fought for." He invoked the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King's advocacy for striking Memphis sanitation workers and his subsequent assassination.
On Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, "tens of thousands of workers and their allies across the country will stand up for workers' freedom to choose a union, calling on their elected officials to join with Sen. Kennedy, Rep. Miller and other elected leaders in supporting and co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act," Sweeney said.
CWA will take the lead on Dec. 10 activities in three cities: Cleveland, Phoenix and Los Angeles, and has assigned staff contacts for activities in every CWA district.
For details and a complete list of contacts, visit ga.cwa-union.org, and under "Hot Topics," click on "Dec. 10."
For further information, e-mail Yvette Herrera, assistant to Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, at yherrera@cwa-union.org, or call her at (202) 434-1133.
The bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), would ensure that when a majority of employees in a workplace decide to form a union, they can do so without the debilitating obstacles employers now use to thwart organizing drives and stall contract negotiations. At least 29 other members of Congress have signed onto the legislation as cosponsors.
"It's time, in fact it's way past time, that we demand for workers in America the basic legal, labor and human rights by which we judge other nations around the world: the freedom of association and the freedom to bargain collectively," Miller said.
Kennedy pointed out that union workers earn wages 25 percent higher than nonunion workers, are four times as likely to have a secure pension plan and 40 percent more likely to have health insurance. Yet, he said, the National Labor Relations Board reported that 30,000 workers were fired for union organizing within a two-year period. The legislation calls for stiff penalties for such activity.
"When you say that American workers have the right to organize, it has to be the real right to organize, and that is what this bill is all about," Kennedy said.
Bahr gave examples of "high-road" employers who have been successful while respecting workers' right to organize through card check: AT&T and Cingular wireless, Kaleida Health and New Mexico state; and he pointed to "low-road" employers where workers are intimidated or fired for organizing and cannot obtain first contracts, such as Comcast and the Chinese Daily News.
He pointed out that union busting has become the nation's "fastest growing industry" and called for workers and communities to rally behind the new legislation. "We can no longer be hypocrites," Bahr said.
According to Cornell University research, under current law, one quarter of private sector employers fire at least one worker during a union organizing campaign, and 90 percent of employers actively exert pressure to keep workers from forming a union. Under current law, an employer can delay and challenge the results of NLRB elections and delay bargaining a first contract indefinitely.
The new legislation would allow workers to choose to form a union by showing majority support through card check. It would provide that if an employer and a union are engaged in bargaining for a first contract and do not reach agreement within 90 days, either party may refer the dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; if mediation is unsuccessful after 30 days, the FMCS may refer the dispute to binding arbitration.
It would provide for mandatory court injunctions against employers for firings, intimidation or other interference with workers' right to organize or while bargaining a first contract, would require employers to pay triple back pay to workers fired or discriminated against during an organizing campaign, and calls for civil fines up to $20,000 per violation for willful or repeated violations of workers' rights during organizing or first contract drives.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said the right to bargain collectively is "a fundamental human right. It is a civil right millions of workers have fought for." He invoked the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King's advocacy for striking Memphis sanitation workers and his subsequent assassination.
On Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, "tens of thousands of workers and their allies across the country will stand up for workers' freedom to choose a union, calling on their elected officials to join with Sen. Kennedy, Rep. Miller and other elected leaders in supporting and co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act," Sweeney said.
CWA will take the lead on Dec. 10 activities in three cities: Cleveland, Phoenix and Los Angeles, and has assigned staff contacts for activities in every CWA district.
For details and a complete list of contacts, visit ga.cwa-union.org, and under "Hot Topics," click on "Dec. 10."
For further information, e-mail Yvette Herrera, assistant to Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, at yherrera@cwa-union.org, or call her at (202) 434-1133.