Did you sign The Employee Free Choice Act yet? Hurry!!

Breeze54

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Wed Feb-28-07 08:22 PM
Original message

Did you sign The Employee Free Choice Act yet? Hurry!!

Edited on Wed Feb-28-07 08:24 PM by Breeze54

Please sign The Employee Free Choice Act

American workers need help - and there's something you can do about it.

Regardless of where you live or what you do, labor unions are our first line of defense for worker's rights.
What do they fight for? Raising the minimum wage. Improving labor standards.
Expanding health care benefits. Protecting retirement security.

And these fights don't only make a difference in the workplace:
They are critical to providing economic security for families, strengthening our communities
and rebuilding America's middle class. Every day, millions of Americans work hard and play by
the rules but are still struggling to get by. Democrats understand the important role that
labor unions play to fix this crisis.

Congress is set to debate a bill that will restore American workers' right
to freely choose whether or not to form a union.

Call on the White House to join the Democratic majority and support the Employee Free Choice Act:

http://www.democrats.org/SupportFreeChoice

Research shows union members earn 30% more than nonunion workers.
What's more, union workers are 63% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance,
and are four times more likely to have a guaranteed pension.

The benefits of union membership are clear.
That's why nearly half of American workers who are not currently
represented by unions -- 60 million people -- say that they'd join one if they had the chance.
But every year since 1981, union membership has declined. And a major reason for that fall-off
is the many obstacles workers face when they try to form a union or negotiate a union contract.

The Employee Free Choice Act is a simple, effective solution to restore the right of workers
to form unions and bargain for better wages and benefits for themselves and their families.

It has three key provisions:

Require employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers
sign authorization cards saying they want union representation.

Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.

Strengthen penalties for companies that illegally intimidate employees
to prevent them from forming a union.

No management coercion, no waiting period, no stacked deck --
just the freedom for workers to stand up for their rights.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate overwhelmingly support the Employee Free Choice Act,
but they may not be enough to pass the bill into law. On February 14, Vice President Cheney told
a meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers that Bush would use his second-ever veto
if the Employee Free Choice Act made it to his desk.

The fact is, George Bush and Dick Cheney don't care what's best for the American people
- only what's best for themselves and their corporate cronies.
We saw it with the veto of stem cell legislation. We see it now with the escalation in Iraq.

Don't let it happen again with the Employee Free Choice Act:

http://www.democrats.org/SupportFreeChoice

Big business is scared of the Employee Free Choice Act -- and that's why
they're doing everything in their power to stop it.

75% of companies hire consultants or union-busters to fight organizing campaigns.
And their tactics work:
every 23 minutes, a worker is fired or discriminated against for supporting a union.
All in all, over 22,000 workers each year are illegally fired, demoted, laid off,
suspended without pay, or denied work by their employers as a result of union activity.

Why have our leaders in Washington allowed this to happen? Follow the money trail.

The public opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act is funded in large part by GOP
allied corporate lobbyists and interest groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the
American Conservative Union, and Americans for Tax Reform. The dozens of groups that
make up the "Coalition for a Democratic Workplace" spend big bucks each election cycle
buying Republicans' votes on bills like this one.

This is nothing new. Big Business always gets what it wants from the Republicans--
from an energy bill written by Cheney's oil industry pals to a prescription drug bill
full of giveaways to Big Pharma.

This time, though, the Democrats in Congress can stop them.

If enough people get behind the Employee Free Choice Act,
Bush will have no choice but to sign it into law.

Show the President you stand with America's workers:

http://www.democrats.org/SupportFreeChoice

Do you believe in the right to demand a raise? Health care coverage? A pension?

Do you believe workers should have a voice in their workplaces?

The fate of the Employee Free Choice Act depends on your work.

Help score an important victory for worker's rights and for rebuilding America's middle class.

In Solidarity,

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Please sign!!

Veto threat looms over House labor bill

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16804175.htm

JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press

Posted on Wed, Feb. 28, 2007

WASHINGTON -

President Bush would veto legislation championed by Democrats and labor groups
that would make it easier to organize unions by eliminating employer rights to
demand secret-ballot elections, the White House said Wednesday.

The House is to vote on the legislation Thursday and, with help from pro-labor
Republicans from the Northeast, it is almost certain to pass. But the margin of
support is expected to fall well short of the two-thirds needed to overturn a
presidential veto.

The Employee Free Choice Act, also known as the card check bill, is the top
legislative goal of labor groups eager to reassert themselves with the emergence
of the Democratic majority.

The current system is broken because employers can coerce and intimidate workers
into rejecting unionization, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a phone
interview this week. The House bill, he said, is "the most important improvement
in labor law in many decades."

More at Link...

Please sign it NOW!!