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The Birth of The Employee Free Choice Act Labor Reform Movement
by Employee Free Choice News
Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 9:28 PM
As Grassroots Actions Build Momentum for EFCA a New Reform Movement is Forming Called The Employee Free Choice Act Labor Reform Movement
The Employee Free Choice Act is much more than seeking majority sign up, binding arbitration and stiffer penalties. It is about fixing a broken system, leveling the playing field, providing affordable Healthcare, decent wages, a fair days pay for a fair days work, job security a VOICE on the Job and RESPECT.
While just yesterday Brother Andy Stern SEIU President just announced he may be seeking Alternatives to EFCA, I would have to agree this is the course we must take at this time.
Our Grassroots Actions are Building Momentum for Employee Free Choice Act as well as Labor Reform and in the end Alternatives and Solutions to our problems can be found by Just Thinking Outside of The Box.
Like any chess game there are many pieces which need to be put in place before checkmate or victory can be achieved. Without your pieces being put in the proper position victory can never be truly achieved
.
The Employee Free Choice Act is just one Piece of the chess game the other is Labor Reform and Brother Stern is right in seeking alternatives at this time. Now is the time that the House of Labor Must All Sail in the Same Direction.
We have the Grassroots Power, We Have The Momentum, All we need now is to change our strategy to begin a expanded more powerful movement called The Employee Free Choice Act Labor Reform Movement!
Thinking Outside of The Box to Get The Employee Free Choice Act Passed!
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/2009/03/thinking-outside-box-to-get-employee.html
Amending The Employee Free Choice Act. A Compromise Every Union Can Live With.
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/2009/01/amending-employee-free-choice-act.html
EFCA Open Letter Republican Senators on Possible Employee Free Choice Act Compromise
http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2009/04/37310.php
Grassroots Actions Build Momentum for Employee Free Choice Act
by Seth Michaels, Apr 21, 2009
The Employee Free Choice Act has become one of the most-debated political topics in the country, as working people push to protect their freedom to form unions and deep-pocketed corporate groups spend big on anti-worker ads and disinformation campaigns. Over the past two weeks, union members and allies took part in more than 350 events in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, drawing attention all around the country to this critical bill. Here’s a sample of the grassroots actions supporting the national campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act.
* The Alaska Journal covered a heated debate over the Employee Free Choice Act, where economist John Schmitt and state AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami argued their case against two representatives of corporate anti-worker groups.
* An op-ed in the Arkansas Times from a historian pointed to the need for Employee Free Choice to revitalize the economy.
* In the Denver Daily News, the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act” campaign was featured, while in the Denver Post, small business owner Terri Monley said the Employee Free Choice Act would strengthen the economy.
* Florida Today featured an op-ed in support of the Employee Free Choice Act from Claudie Pouncy, president of the Space Coast AFL-CIO.
* The Billings Gazette was one of the Montana newspapers that covered a visit from the AFL-CIO’s Stewart Acuff, who helped the state’s union members get the word out about the Employee Free Choice Act.
* In Indiana, press coverage of the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act included stories on rallies in the Northwest Indiana Times and the Post-Tribune, as well as an op-ed by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Indiana AFL-CIO President Ken Zeller in the Indianapolis Star.
* Louisiana AFL-CIO President Louis Reine authored a guest column for the Bogalusa Daily News about the need for Employee Free Choice.
* The Portsmouth Herald reported on one of the many rallies in support of the freedom to form unions and bargain in Maine.
* In Nebraska, op-eds in support of the Employee Free Choice Act from a small business owner and a university president ran in the Omaha World Herald.
* The Fayetteville Observer reported on grassroots activity by North Carolina union members.
* The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covered one of the many Employee Free Choice Act rallies around Pennsylvania.
* The Richmond Times-Dispatch is just one of the papers covering the fight over the freedom to form unions in Virginia.
* In Wisconsin, university professors in management and economics wrote an op-ed supporting the Employee Free Choice Act in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and state AFL-CIO President Sara Rogers partnered with Sweeney to pen an op-ed for the Janesville Gazette.
These are just a few of nearly 500 articles, op-eds and reports on the fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. The past two weeks have shown the national strength of the coalition fighting for the freedom to form unions and bargain. Now, with lawmakers back in Washington, D.C., workers and their allies will continue the grassroots push to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
Tags: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, EFCA, Employee Free Choice Act, Employee Free Choice, Free Choice Act, Florida, Indiana, labor, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Senate, union, union blogs, unions, Virginia, Wisconsin
Stern Considers Alternatives to EFCA
The Washington Post By Alec MacGillis
As key senators have announced that they are not planning to support the Employee Free Choice Act, labor leaders put on a brave face, saying they have every intention of finding the needed 60 votes and that it is premature to start talking about alternatives to the bill.
But in an interview today, Andy Stern, head of the influential Service Employees International Union, stepped gently away from that unified front, raising the prospect of reforms that would overhaul union elections without giving workers the option of organizing sans secret ballot elections.
The legislation now before Congress, dubbed "card check," would let workers organize if a majority in a workplace sign pro-union cards; as it stands, employers require secret ballot elections. Unions say elections are marred by employer intimidation; employers say going with card-check -- what the unions call "majority sign up" -- would expose workers to union pressure.
Speaking to The Post's editorial board, Stern noted that there are ways to try to level the playing field in union elections without giving workers a way around the secret ballot requirement, such as shortening the window before elections are held -- thus giving employers less time to pressure workers -- and stiffening penalties for employer violations.
"We are on the hunt for a solution," he said. "No matter what you do, you have to change the election process. Whether it's majority sign up or not, workers have to have a choice about having an election. The bill has to address ... fast elections, eliminating employer behavior and what happens if there are employer violations. Regardless, that needs to be done."
He even suggested that the card-check bill had been introduced as it is in the Senate only in order to have the same language as the bill that is in the House, and that this may not have been the right way to go. "We sort of have a bill that talks a lot about majority signup and nothing about the problems of the election system," he said. "That was probably a decision made in the House to have the same bill come up and potentially pass the same bill -- which is not going to be a logical way to follow through now that we know ... what the situation is."
Stern and SEIU secretary treasurer Anna Burger said they have not given up on getting 60 votes for card-check, saying that they still hold out hope that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the only Republican to support the bill in 2007, could yet reverse his declaration against the bill last month. "Oh sure," Burger said about the chances of Specter flipping back. "This is Arlen Specter we're talking about."
But they also acknowledged that, for now, they are having to search for their 60 votes without any help from President Obama, who has expressed support for card-check but not made it a priority.
"The President has said he has a series of things -- that we agree that he needs to get done -- which are major for every man woman and child, like health care, like the budget, like financial regulation," Stern said. "We respect that we have a job to do to line up enough votes without him. I don't think there's any question that he says there will be a vote, that this bill's time has arrived and he will do whatever is in his power to bring this home. We just aren't there yet."
Then Stern signaled one last time that if card-check does prove to be unrealistic, he believes that unions must get behind some other substantive reform, instead of waiting until 2011 in hopes of a bigger Democratic majority after the next election. "We need to get something that's significant done," he said.
Tags: Employee Free Choice Act, EFCA, Employee Free Choice Act Compromise, EFCA Compromise,Employee Free Choice Compromise, Grassroots Actions, Unions. Union Blogs, Labor Unions, Labor Reform, Employee Free Choice Act Labor Reform Movement
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