Workers fight back against Employee Free Choice Act opponents

January 6, 5:28 AMDC Special Interests ExaminerRon Moore

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The Service Employees International Union representing two millions workers nationwide, is launching an advertising campaign supporting passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Opponents of the Act, who oppose the right to organize, are spending millions of dollars to block passage, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spending 10 million dollars alone. Even Barbara Comstock of the Workforce Fairness Institute admits that one million workers would exercise their right to organize and join the SEIU if obstacles are removed through passage of the EFCA.

The Employee Free Choice Act would establish the right to negotiate in good faith with employers after a simple majority approve though a "card check" procedure. Only after the contract is ratified through a secret ballot do workers become union members. The New York Times recently supported the EFCA in an editorial stating that:

"The measure is vital legislation and should not be postponed. By giving employees a bigger say in compensation issues, unions also help to establish corporate norms, the absence of which has contributed to unjustifiable disparities between executive pay and rank-and-file pay. There is a strong argument that the slack labor market of a recession actually makes unions all the more important."  New York Times, The Labor Agenda, December 28, 2008

The SEIU campaign is designed to mobilize it's members and supporters to demonstrate the overwhelming support by working people, who polls show believe that their lives would improve if they organized a union with their co-workers.

For more information go to: freechoice.seiu.org/page/s/nytimes