As we noted on Sunday, the Employee Free Choice act is coming up for a vote in the Senate. We suggested yesterday:
Readers should contact Senator Norm Coleman and ask him to support the Senate version of the Employee Free Choice Act. You can call his office at 202-224-5642, or sign an online petition that will be sent to his office.
The EFCA has already passed in the House. Congressman Walz, who promised to support the legislation in his bid for office, is a co-sponsor of the measure.
Management groups claim that the EFCA will allow organized labor to intimidate workers into joining a union. That's interesting logic, given that polling consistently shows that people would join unions if they could. In the current organizing climate, management is able to break labor laws with impunity, illegally firing workers who seek a voice at work.
Now there's an attempt to frighten business owners in Southern Minnesota as well. Labor is own its toes about this development. A friend who works as a field rep for the SEIU AFL-CIO in SE Minnesota sent us this notice:
Local Labor Activists To Protest Business Group
Labor leaders say group's rhetoric is an insult to working AmericansLocal labor leaders are sponsoring an action on the evening of Tuesday, June 5 , 2007, in response to a meeting by a business lobbying group visiting several cities in Minnesota to drum up support for its efforts to block the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
The group is part of the misnamed “Coalition for a Democratic Workplace,” whose membership consists of deep pocketed national business groups and their affiliates.
The EFCA, cosponsored by Representative Tim Walz in the US House and by Senator Amy Klobuchar in the US Senate, would make three changes to the current system workers must use to choose a union: it would allow workers to choose the method by which they become members of a union; it would mandate arbitration for first contracts between a union and employer; and it increases penalties for employers who fail to follow the law.
Local activists will draw attention to the fact that the American middle class is under attack by corporate interests and the best defense working families have is to organize for a voice on the job.
Who: Southeast Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
What: Action to Defend the Middle Class
Where: 15 South Broadway, Rochester, MN
When: Tuesday, June 5, 4:30 pm
For more information, contact Russell Hess, President, Southeast Central Labor Council, (507) 261-6546.
In addition to the Rochester CDW event, there's going to be one in Mankato at the Mankato Golf Club. Definitely harder to leaflet Country Club Drive.
Update: Those who want to learn more about America's current organizing climate and why we need the EFCA should consider attending this forum, posted on Workday Minnesota:
Workers will describe their efforts to gain a voice on the job at a community forum Thursday, June 14, in St. Paul. Also attending the forum will be Sarah Fox, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that oversees federal labor law. The forum, entitled "Let Voices Ring," will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. June 14 at Christ Lutheran Church, 105 University Ave. W., St. Paul.
It is sponsored by the Twin Cities Workers Interfaith Network. A key focus will be the Employee Free Choice Act, workers rights legislation that has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is awaiting action in the U.S. Senate.
Nurses trying to form a union at Regions Hospital are among those scheduled to speak, organizers said.
"Nurses at Regions Hospital and in thousands of other workplaces across the nation are struggling to make ends meet, while their ability to negotiate for higher wages and safe working conditions is severely jeopardized," the Interfaith Network said in announcing the forum. "America's working families need the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure corporations won't continue to harrass, coerce and even fire people who try to organize and bargain for their rights."
Great work!
Posted by: Grace Kelly | June 05, 2007 at 11:12 AM