America's broad, deep Middle Class, indeed, the American Dream was formed in the 20-25 years after the passage of the Wagner Act in 1935 which codified the right of workers in America to freely form unions and bargain collectively.
Between 1935 and 1955 12 million workers formed unions and more than one in three workers in America became union members.
These workers literally bargained their way into the Middle Class and bargained into existence the American Middle Class and the American Dream.
We can restore that freedom to form unions and bargain collectively again, thereby increasing consumer demand to lift our economy and restore economic vitality and to allow workers to rebuild their power in the marketplace so critical to restoring the power average Americans need to get America back to work.
Labor unions, people of faith, civic and community leaders, academics, and other Americans of good will have been working hard since about 2002 to restore these very important freedoms. And until these freedoms are restored millions of workers will continue to be denied entry to the Middle Class.
Already 12 states have reformed their laws governing public employee labor relations to give state workers and others the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively--including majority sign-up.
Very productive work is underway to change the rules in the Railway Labor Act to restore essential freedoms to workers in America's transportation industry to form unions and bargain collectively.
Most importantly, we are very close to getting the support necessary to pass the Employee Free Choice Act which would simplify and streamline organizing, effectively punish employers who violate workers rights with $20,000 civil fines and triple damage back pay for firing workers, and force the Financial Elite to bargain in good faith with unions by allowing unions to seek arbitration for recalcitrant employers.
The legislation has the support of President Obama and the US House of Representatives which passed it 241-185 in March of 2007. The Employee Free Choice Act has the support of a majority of the US Senate. But under the current rules in the Senate you need not a majority -- 50 votes-- but a super-majority of 60 votes to move legislation to where a vote to pass it can even take place.
We are very close to the 60 votes we need. It we aren't able to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, we will work with President Obama and Vice President Biden and their appointees to the National Labor Relations Board to change the rules governing forming a union through administrative action to once again allow workers in America access to one of the most basic freedoms in a democracy--the freedom of speech and assembly and association so that workers can build the collective power to challenge the Financial Elite and Get America Back to Work.
Then, imagine, if forming a union were a simple, straightforward act, if the boss were powerless to stop you and if you could bargain for a fairer share of the wealth you create with your work and a real slice of the productivity you generate. And if together we could help one in five workers or one in three workers form unions where they work, then, together, unified we could have the people power to counteract the money power of the Financial Elite.
http://www.change.org/actions/view/i_demand_congress_and_the_president_enact_the_employee_free_choice_act
Thank you.
Regarding yet another of the anti-Union, anti-EFCA 'Will you Protect the Secret Ballot' ads posted, the True question is Should Employers, not Workers, have the 'right' ( as they do presently ), to demand secret ballots?
Quick Fact: George Will claimed EFCA would "abolish workers' rights to secret ballots"
http://mediamatters.org/research/201001290014
There is simply no possible way that unions and collective bargaining brought America's middle class into existence. It existed before the National Labor Relations Act and still exists despite the fact that union density in the private sector workforce has fallen from almost 35 percent at its zenith to approximately 7 percent today. For more on that see http://davidsvrwc.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-vanishing-middle-class.html
The Orwellianly named "Employee Free Choice Act" has little or nothing to do with giving employees a free choice, if it did it would repeal the section of the National Labor Relations Act giving labor unions monopoly bargaining privileges. It has everything to do with using the power of government in a vain attempt to restore the sagging fortunes of an institution that long ago outlived its purpose as a representative of workers and now struggles to survive on its political usefulness.
Role in the Anti-Union Network
The Public Service Research Foundation (PSRF) and the Public Service Research Council (PSRC) have campaigned against the right of teachers and other public sector employees to form unions and engage in collective bargaining for over three decades. While relatively small in size and funding compared to other groups, the organizations play a significant role by developing anti-union ammunition, which is distributed and advanced throughout the anti-union network.
The Foundation’s claim to fame was leading “the campaign for public support” of President Reagan’s “handling of the PATCO strike,” whereby Reagan permanently replaced the air traffic controllers who were on strike in 1981. Labor historians mark this event as a radical departure from the U.S. government’s recognition of collective bargaining as a public good, moving toward an aggressively combative stance against workers’ rights. The unparalleled act of firing 13,000 workers consequently legitimized unionbusting and helped the burgeoning field of union-avoidance consultants to explode into a muti-million dollar industry.
http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/the-anti-union-network/public-service-research-foundation/public-service-research-foundation.html
Fact: Nearly 60 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could, based on research conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates in December 2006.
Nearly 60 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could, based on research conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates in December 2006. But when workers try to gain a voice on the job by forming a union, employers routinely respond with intimidation, harassment and retaliation.
During union election campaigns, management routinely coerces employees to convince them not to choose union representation. According to a survey of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election campaigns in 1998 and 1999 by Cornell University scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner, private-sector employers illegally fire employees for union activity in at least 25 percent of all efforts to join a union.
Employees not fired fear losing their jobs if they support union representation. According to the Bronfenbrenner survey, management forces employees to attend group anti-union presentations in 92 percent of all union campaigns. Brent Garren, senior associate counsel for UNITE HERE, told a House subcommittee this past September that 79 percent of workers agreed workers are “very” or “somewhat” likely to be fired for trying to form a union.
http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/57million.cfm