Organizing, Millworker Style

Former Sen. John Edwards, the featured speaker at the WFP's blockbuster fundraiser last week, had this to say today about propsoed new federal legislation that would facilitate labor organizing:

As I have been traveling across the country looking at ways to help families escape poverty and join the middle class, I have seen time and time again that joining a union is one of the best ways to lift people out of poverty. Americans in unions earn 27% more than Americans not in unions.

Today, Congress is introducing bipartisan legislation to restore a worker's right to organize. The Employee Free Choice Act would make it harder for employers to prevent workers from joining a union.

All too often, America's workers face harassment and intimidation when they try to join a union. They work hard for our country, but our laws aren't working for them. This important legislation would change our laws so that workers - not employers - can decide whether to start a union.

Please help America's workers by contacting your Senators and U.S. Representative and asking them to cosponsor this critical legislation immediately.

This bill would ensure a worker's right to join a union by requiring employers to recognize a union if a majority of employees have designated the union as their bargaining representative. Also known as "card check," this system offers a free and fair way for American workers to decide whether to join a union.

And this act strengthens penalties against employers who violate the rights of their workers while they are trying to organize a union and negotiate their first contract.

Americans all across the country want the chance to build a better life for their families. They want a fair wage, good health care coverage and the option of joining a union. It is wrong for employers to interfere with their right to organize.

We need your help to ensure that the rights of America's workers are protected. By asking your representatives in Congress to support this legislation, you can help build an America that respects the rights of all its citizens.

Right on.

We're not holding our breath waiting for this Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, but kudos to its 119 (at last count) co-sponsors for forcing their colleagues to choose publicly whose side their on.