West Wing Stars Help Shine Media Spotlight on Employee Free Choice

Actor Martin Sheen and two costars from TV's "The West Wing" joined with CWA members and other workers at a March 31 news conference on Capitol Hill to push for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

As giant banners of CWA members and other workers fighting for the Employee Free Choice Act were unveiled in Washington, D.C., and on mobile billboards throughout the country March 31, three dedicated activists who played fictional politicians on TV came to Capitol Hill to give the bill their strongest endorsement.

Martin Sheen, who played President Jeb Bartlett in The West Wing was accompanied by costars Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford, a board member of American Rights at Work. The actors joined with embattled workers for a news conference hosted by ARAW and then met with lawmakers.

"This issue boils down to a simple fact: It is a fundamental right in this country for workers to be able to join unions and to bargain collectively," Whitford said. "Unfortunately, as these workers will tell you, this is often not the case. Without the protections provided by the Employee Free Choice Act, workers looking to join unions are subject to harassment, disinformation and dismissal because of a system that is exploited by and stacked in favor of management."

CWA members Joe Bordelon, a security company worker in Louisiana, and Sara Steffens, a California Bay Area newspaper reporter who was fired after organizing a TNG-CWA unit, told their stories at the news conference on Capitol Hill.

"The Employee Free Choice Act would make a real difference," Bordelon said in describing the struggle he and his coworkers went through to organize. "I am here today because I don't think it's fair for any other worker to have to suffer the kind of delays that we did."

Bordelon, of Local 3403, is featured on one of the 50-foot-high banners hanging from union and allies' buildings in Washington, D.C. Chinazo Okolo, also of Local 3403, is featured on the east side of the CWA building. Steffens' image is on the south side of the AFL-CIO building facing the White House.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) joined the workers and actors for the news conference, saying Employee Free Choice is an essential part of helping America's working families recover from the recession and from years of stagnating wages. "We're losing the middle class and when we lose the middle class, we're losing America," Boxer said.