ATU Action Weekly Update - 7/2/07

Handful of Senators Deny Employee Free Choice

The battle for the Employee Free Choice Act moves to the 2008 election after a handful of obstructionist U.S. Senators blocked a vote on the bill last week. 

On a vote of 51-48, the Senate voted for cloture, that is, shutting off debate. Sixty votes were needed to invoke cloture and end the debate and move to a vote on the bill.  So even though a majority of the Senate voted for cloture, a small group of Republicans denied workers a free choice to join a union.

But the momentum for this bill is growing. The grassroots movement behind this legislation is bigger and more exciting than anyone believed last year. Working families across the country mounted a massive campaign to win passage of the bill.  Sixteen Governors and nearly 1,300 state and local elected officials have expressed support for the legislation in all 50 states.  Seven presidential candidates also backed the bill.

Even though the cloture vote fell short, this vote is a step forward because it is the first time in a generation that a majority of the U.S. Senate has voted for workers’ rights.  Click here to see how your senators voted.

The Employee Free Choice Act (S.1041), would have leveled the playing field in the workplace by allowing workers to decide to join a union without employer interference and require arbitration if a timely agreement is not reached on a first contract.

 

Flawed Immigration Bill Dies in Senate

An immigration bill which would have massively expanded exploitive guest worker programs without any credible wage floor protections, died in the U.S. Senate last week.  ATU International President Warren George had urged Senators to oppose the ill-conceived legislation which he believed to be "far from the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that workers in this country deserve."

In a statement released by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney shortly after the vote, Sweeney said the legislation "would have only perpetuated the problems it intended to solve."

"Comprehensive immigration reform must be done in a way that upholds workers' most basic rights and removes economic incentives for exploitation," said Sweeney.  "We will continue to work with the immigrant rights community and our allies in Congress to devise a truly comprehensive model that places immigrant and workers' rights at the head of the line."

 

Sign the Health Care Petition

Michael Moore's new documentary, "Sicko," spotlights the problems with our country's broken health care industry -- the millions who don’t have health insurance, those who suffer because the insurance they do have will not pay for prescriptions or procedures they need, and the swiftly rising cost of health insurance. 

Insurance companies maximize profits by doing their best not to provide benefits to the hundreds of millions of Americans with coverage.

Our nation's hospitals have too few nurses caring for too many patients, leading to thousands of preventable deaths and injuries.

Working families are paying more for their coverage in co-payments, deductibles and premiums, yet they are getting less in benefits.
 
Enough is enough.  We need change.  We need action.  We need a real national health care policy -- because no one who works hard and plays by the rules should go without good, affordable health care coverage.

Please show your support for comprehensive health care reform by signing the petition for quality, affordable health care at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/healthcarepetition.

 

Got Talent?  Sign-Up for the ATU Idol Show

The surprise hit of the ATU International Convention in 2004 was the ATU Idol talent competition.  ATU Idol will be returning to the convention again this year, and it promises to be even better. 

Convention delegates bring their best vocal renditions of rock and pop hits, as well as selections from a wide range of American standards. Accompaniment is chosen by contestants from a HUGE list of Karaoke backup CDs provided by the competition.

A panel of non-ATU entertainment professionals will judge the performances – just like the hit TV show.  There may be a “Simon” in the group, but that’s all a part of the fun.

Prizes will be awarded to the top performers, but the real winner will be the ATU MS Research Fund – the recipient of all show proceeds. 

If you are a convention delegate, have a good voice and love to perform you’ll have a great time and support the search for a cure for MS as well.

Don’t delay.  Performance slots are limited.

You can download an application and the song list from the ATU website at http://www.atu.org.  Just click on the ATU Idol link.