The Washington Post reports that The Employee Free Choice Bill Battle Is Joined. According to Tula Connell, Managing Editor of the AFL-CIO, Congressman Walz has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, thus closing the door on speculation by the president of a local chamber of commerce that Walz might not support the bill again. We had emailed Connell to see if Walz was among the co-sponsors of the bill in the 11th Congress.
Walz was an original co-sponsor of the bill in the 110th Congress and voted for it when the bill came up for a vote in that session. The legislation later stalled in the Senate. The issue raised by Walz's Republican opponent during the 2008 campaign, who received 32.9 percent of the vote in November.
More bout the bill from the House Education and Labor Committee.
Laura Askelin, president of the Southeast Minnesota Labor Council, obtained copies of the letters that the Walz congressional office has been sending out to constituents who contact him both for and against. Read the letters below the fold, from an email we received from Askelin
Dear Laura Askelin,
Thank you for contacting me in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act. I appreciate hearing from you.
As a union member, I strongly support the right to organize and consider it a basic principle of the American democratic process. I can personally vouch for the invaluable economic opportunities unions provide our shrinking middle class.
Current labor law is biased against workers trying to organize. Instead of recognizing a union after receiving a majority of union authorization cards, employers can schedule a public vote where members must again affirm their support for a union - a process that can take years. In the interim, management can intimidate and fire union supporters before the election, and current regulations provide little oversight or penalty for abusive employers. The Employee Free Choice Act removes the waiting period by authorizing union recognition after a majority of employees sign union authorization cards, and it increases penalties for certain intimidating tactics.
During the previous Congress, I voted in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which passed by a margin of 241 to 185. Unfortunately, the Senate did not move quickly enough to pass the bill before the end of the legislative session. It is my hope that the 111th Congress will move quickly to re-introduce the Employee Free Choice Act, and to get it to President Obama's desk for his signature.
Thank you again for sharing your views with me, and I look forward to hearing from you more in the future. For more information about my activities representing southern Minnesota in Congress, please visit http://walz.house.gov and sign up for my e-newsletter.
Sincerely,
Tim Walz
Member of Congress
_________________________________________________________
And here's the letter you get if you are against Employee Free Choice Act. ...
March 9, 2009
Dear Laura Askelin,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Employee Free Choice Act. I appreciate hearing from you.
As you may know, our current labor laws provide very little recourse when workers are fired for seeking to organize, or if employers interfere with a union organizing drive. The Employee Free Choice Act is an effort to address that imbalance and give workers more influence over their ability to organize and collectively bargain.
Currently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recognizes two means of forming a union: majority sign-up or NLRB elections. However, the decision about which method to use is made by the employer, instead of the workers themselves.
The Employee Free Choice Act restores the right of American workers to decide if they want to form a union and allows workers, not their employers, to decide how they want to do it. Both of the current means to form a union - majority sign-up and NLRB elections - will continue to be available under the Employee Free Choice Act, using the same rules we have today. However, the decision about which method to use will rest with the employees.
This legislation also increases the penalties for illegal anti-union intimidation tactics so that violating workers' rights will no longer be treated as "business as usual."
I voted in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act during the 110th Congress. Although this legislation passed the House, it was not acted on in the Senate. Should this legislation be re-introduced in the 111th Congress, I intend to support it.
Thank you again for sharing your views with me, and I look forward to hearing from you again in the future. For more information about my activities representing southern Minnesota in Congress, please visit http://walz.house.gov and sign up for my e-newsletter.
Sincerely,
Tim Walz
Member of Congress
Looks as if any indecision that Congressman Walz may have had is a settled issue, given the letters and his signing on as a co-sponsor again.
Tula Connell also said in answer to our emailed query that all DFLers in Congress from Minnesota remain as co-sponsors of the EFCA. Testimony was taken today by the U.S. Senate HELP committee.
We'll link to the bill when the Library of Congress's Thomas makes it available.
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