Labor Demands Senate Vote On Employee Free Choice Act

CWA and other unions are marching on the Capitol this month and calling, writing and visiting individual lawmakers to push the U.S. Senate to vote on the Employee Free Choice Act.

"Even Senate leader Harry Reid, one of our supporters, needs to hear from us," CWA President Larry Cohen said. "He needs to know that we are serious about getting a vote on this critical bill and that if the Republicans are going to filibuster it we need to have supporting senators on their feet, telling stories about workers across this country who want to bargain and organize without pressure and intimidation."

As the CWA News went to press, an enormous labor rally was planned outside the Senate chambers on June 19 to demand a vote on the the bill. The House passed the bill overwhelmingly in March. Though it appears to have majority support in the Senate, it may not have the 60 votes necessary under Senate rules to stop a filibuster and allow the bill to be voted on.

However, Cohen said the fact that a majority of lawmakers in both houses supports the bill will build enough momentum to pass it later.

As CWA members champion the Employee Free Choice Act, they are also building a coalition of local and national political leaders who are pressuring Verizon to respect the right of its workers to organize and bargain collectively.

CWA, other unions and the AFL-CIO network of labor councils are working with city councils, county commissions and state legislatures to pass resolutions urging Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Houses of representatives in Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Hawaii and Michigan, as well as the Minnesota Senate, are among key victories so far, and resolutions are pending in at least eight other states.

At the same time, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting Verizon's anti-unionism in the push for bargaining rights.  Unions asking public officials to write letters to Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg urging him to stop the company's relentless union-busting and let Wireless and Verizon Business workers organize and bargain contracts.

"Verizon had neutrality, had card check," Cohen said, describing the relatively good relationship the company once had with its unions. "Now Verizon is a poster child for a company abandoning its commitment to workers."

AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff said: "There is no more important campaign than the Verizon campaign. It's a growing company, a wealthy company, a company that's only going to get more wealthy, and traditionally it's been a union company. If we had the Employee Free Choice Act today, Verizon Wireless and Verizon Business employees would be organizing and forming unions across the country. We cannot save and restore the American middle class until we restore the right of every worker in this country to form a union and bargain collectively."

Once the Senate approves the Employee Free Choice Act, the final hurdle is the White House. President Bush has promised to veto it. But Cohen said the groundwork being laid now will pay off for workers once a new president takes office in 2009. He said any candidate labor decides to support in the 2008 presidential election must be fully committed to signing the bill.