The Stars Align for Employee Free Choice Act
From the big screen to the Broadway stage, a stellar lineup of stars is joining the fight for working families.
Amy Brenneman, Nancy Giles, Esai Morales and Mike Farrell are among 47 performing artists who have taped a new video in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
Brenneman, one of the television actors appearing in the video, says the freedom to form a union gives working families the economic security they need:
People associate actors with fame and glory. The truth is for a long time my union contract was the reason I could support my family. That's why I support the Employee Free Choice Act. Because each worker, regardless of their field, deserves the freedom to bargain for a contract, for a better life.
Released today, the video and list of performing artists and their bios are available at the new website Artists for Workers' Choice.
These artists -- including Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award winners and nominees -- together with veteran writers and technicians, have created a clear, impassioned explanation of why America's workers need the Employee Free Choice Act to restore balance in the workplace and have the bargaining power they need to rebuild a strong middle class.
The project came together through the incredible coordination of eight entertainment unions: Actors’ Equity, American Federation of Musicians (AFM), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Directors Guild of America (DGA), Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW).
The presidents of the eight unions have released a joint statement about why the Employee Free Choice Act matters to them:
The members of all our unions are standing together to support the Employee Free Choice Act because we know that if workers don't have the freedom to bargain, it affects all of us -- our livelihoods, our rights as professionals and our strength to create an economy that works for all.
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Fight for the working families? Oh please, these are union people. Hollywood is a union town. And some of the problems that the industry is having is due to just that. Producers find it cheaper now to shoot in Canada. Why? The unions drove up the cost of production thoughtlessly.
Finally, the far left of our democratic party sees an "ah" moment. Please look back at the previous posts when Arlen Specter was first announced as a democrat. You all raled against him because of his "public" statements on this issue and others because you thought he was against certain issues. When are you going to learn that President Obama is nobody's punk. He knows what he is doing and how to do it. You hammered him on torture, and now look where we are. You never, ever, rode a white president this way. As a Black American, I'm taking it there. You disgust me. Now, here comes the freakin' praise for EFCA. I was never worried; as stated, President Obama is nobody's punk or puppet. You need to learn how to just shut up sometimes. Yes, my anger is showing.
The Anti EFCA crowd are the same people who, on the eve of an election, consider themselves as 'undecided'.
I was in a union for 38 years, until I retired, and no doubt, I would never have been hired, but for the Federal government and the Union.
The Feds told big business they had to diversify.
When I began, black college graduates were being offered janitorial jobs, while white GED and HS grads got the technical and administrative jobs. Once the Feds got me in, the union made sure I got the same pay as the people working next to me, and they made sure that, in 7 years, I didn't get fired because someone's 17 year old nephew needed a good job.
Management can not be trusted to 'talk' to an employee about joining a union. Management has it's own agenda, and it is not friendly to the craftsmen as human beings. They only see them as 'production'.
Workers are adults. They don't need management anywhere near their decisions. They are not chattel, nor are they modern day slaves.
Management no longer has the 'Jim Crow' hold over the employees that they once did.
Some people are comfortable feeling helpless and depending on their 'Boss' to 'take care' of them. For those, all they need do is not sign up for the union.
Pass the EFCA and simply give the adults who can, and will think for themselves, a choice.
Quotes from H.R. 1409 - The Employee Free Choice Act (It's not very long)...
http://hr1409.org/?gclid=CKaA1Y7uvpoCFRKLxwodZiNSsA
"If the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations designating the individual or labor organization specified in the petition as their bargaining representative"
"'(B) procedures to be used by the Board to establish the validity of signed authorizations designating bargaining representatives.'."
My question is, if the initial petition to be represented by a labor organization has to be signed and then the validity of the signature has to be verified - doesn't that take away the anonymity?
Here's a question for you EFCA boosters who insist it doesn't eliminate secret ballots:
Can you please give me one good reason why a union would ever opt for a secret ballot election when card check is available?
Just one good reason. Please. I'm dying to hear it.
Why don't you ask the unions who've opted for it? There was an article here on huffpo the other day about unions in a state that already had a version of EFCA and several of them had opted for the secret ballot.
The Unions are dying with the carcasses of the giant corporations that are going under. There is no less corruption in unions than in business and it still only benefits those in power rather than those who need a break. The EFCA is the last gasp of a tired old beast. As GM, Chrysler, etc must die and be reborn, so should the unions that helped take them to the grave. I'm not against unions, but we need new leaders and new paradigms of what organized labor means and doesn't mean.
Actually according to the records of complaints and prosecutions the corporations are far more corrupt than the Unions. Remember, "Unions" just means groups of American workers. Spitting on Unions is spitting on Americans who work for a living.
would all these "stars" and all of Hollywood.... ALLOW their employees, nannies, housekeepers,assistants, trainers, et al to organize?
All those stars are in fact Union members.
Card check is not some new thing the unions invented. Most of the Casinos in Vegas agreed to card check for the Culinary union years ago. The EFCA will give the choice between card check and secret elections to the workers instead of the employer which is the way it is now. Also it won't let the employer put off negotiations for months. Blue Man Group and Coast Casinos stagehands voted in a secret election to join the union over a year ago and still don't have a contract.
What part of "yes it does" remove the secret ballot do you not understand? If enough persons, under the watchful eye of their minders, sign the card, the Union can be certified.
A secret ballot means you go behind the curtain (actually or metaphorically) and vote any darn way you want. Mail in ballots by empoloyees are as subject to outside-the-workplace manipulation.
I support the right to Unionize. But oppose this element of the Orwellian Employee FREE Choice Act.
The records of the NLRB show the vast majority of manipulation goes on by the employer at the workplace by way of harrassment and firing of pro union workers and mandatory anti union meetings, not union intimidation..
Ramp up enforcement, through the protocols of the NLRB. Don't steal the autonomy of judgement afforded by the secret ballot.
As a former member of the Carpenter's Union, the vast majority of what I have to say about Unions is positive. The one thing my experience showed me is that there's a penchant for cronyism and nepotism in unions that would only be exacerbated by a vote that's not anonymous.
In the Carpenter's Union the nature of the job is that you are often out of work - you build a structure and then it's over. After your assignment is over you go to the union hall and put your name on a list and you're put in line for the next available contract. The problem I found was that some people never had to wait in line, they were always working and it was obvious that this was taking place.
I'm for anything that would allow unions to expand, but I'm against it if it takes away anonymity. Anyone that voted against the union and then joined to keep their job would be subject to possible retribution from career union employees - not the people that work along side them, but the people that work for the union and decide who gets what job.
Taking away anonymous votes is un-American, imagine if the rest of our votes weren't anonymous - there would be all kinds of retribution in the work place, by police, maybe in health care, etc.
How many times do you have to be told that IT DOES NOT TAKE AWAY THE WORKERS RIGHT TO A SECRET BALLOT???? In fact, I believe it was repeated THREE TIMES in the video alone. Jeebus.
Until I read the bill on my own - it's all talk. Jeebus won't change that.
Get real. Sure, it's technically true that EFCA doesn't do away with secret ballots. It just creates an alternative to them that is vastly more convenient and easy for the unions. The obvious result will be that secret ballots will never be used again, simply because card check is so much easier.
No doubt you EFCA boosters know all of this, but you insist on making disingenuous statements to the contrary. No thinking person is fooled by your BS.
I don't think you're right, I wrote a post w/ quotes from EFCA above and I think you are wrong, despite the Hollywood advertising
Excellent points.
I keep hear conflicting things about this bill in terms of the secret ballot part. Some people say the bit about no anonymous voting is propaganda from the anti-union people. But then I also read that some union officials have said they'd change the bill to ensure secret voting. If someone knows for sure....
Although as union members they do have something germaine to add to the discussion, I think it is a mistake to play into the accusations of the right about the celebrity-worshipping left. The left needs to rely on its own message and principles to sell themselves.
After all, Ted Nugent played at the tea parties. Come on, it's Ted Nugent! He must know something, he's famous!
Thank you! My father worked as an organizer for the AFL-CIO and AFSME for 40 years. What Reagan was allowed to do to labor unions was a crime. The continuation of the practice of busting America's organized labor unions by the "family values" party has been an act of terrorism against working people and their families for the past 30 years. My wife and I and our four sons want to thank all of the participants in this public service announcement and we join with you in urging everyone to contact their elected representatives, today!
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