| The Employee Free Choice Act will make it easier for workers to organize to improve their wages, benefits and working conditions. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the legislation in early March and the Senate is expected to vote in early summer.
In recent years, it has become more and more difficult for workers to exercise their right to join a union. In 2005, more than 30,000 workers were fired or illegally penalized for attempting to organize.
The Employee Free Choice Act would give workers a fair chance to form unions to improve their lives by:
- Allowing them to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.
- Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.
- Establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
The legislation has both Republican and Democratic support in Congress, but the Bush administration has threatened a veto. Minnesota's junior Senator, Democrat Amy Klobuchar, is a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act. Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman has not stated a position. As a result, unions and other supporters of the legislation are mobilizing people to call and write him.
The Teamsters union has information on how to write letters to the editor, http://www.teamsterstakeaction.org/campaign/efca_letter/search-zip?rk=&preview=f
Information on the Sheet Metal Workers website features a video about one of its members discussing the Employee Free Choice Act, http://www.smwia.org/
Read Amy Bodnar's commentary in the St. Cloud times:
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070421/OPINION/104210015/1006
For more information on the Employee Free Choice Act, visit the national AFL-CIO website:http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/
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