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Don't believe the Chamber's lies! Tell Congress to Support Labor Law Reform
Big Business and their Chambers of Commerce are demanding bailouts and tax breaks while laying off workers and paying big bonuses.
| They've also launched an anti-worker propaganda campaign, spending millions to fund front groups who spread lies about the Employee Free Choice Act, pretending to care about worker privacy. No surprise. These corporate interests oppose everything from the minimum wage to safety rules to family leave and unemployment compensation. Suddenly corporations care about worker privacy. Yeah, Right. |
"The fight against Employee Free Choice will be a firestorm bordering on Armageddon." - Randel Johnson, U.S. Chamber of Commerce |
JwJ coalitions across the country are mobilizing at Chamber of Commerce branches June 3-4 to highlight their multimillion dollar campaign aganist the Employee Free Choice Act. We are asking local branches of the Chamber to disassociate themselves from the national US Chamber’s practices by at least declaring neutrality on the Employee Free Choice Act. For those local branches that have already been actively opposing the legislation, we are protesting their activity just as we are the US Chamber’s.
To defeat the greedy CEOs and anti-union front groups fighting this bill, we need to ratchet up our grassroots efforts. Send the letter below and ask Congress to ignore the Chamber's lies and pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Don't believe the Chamber's Lies about Employee Free Choice Act
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am writing to voice my continued support for the Employee Free Choice Act, which was reintroduced in Congress in April. If you haven't become a co-sponsor, I urge you to do so. And if you're already a co-sponsor, I hope you'll do everything you can to encourage your colleagues to get on board. The economic tailspin has put the middle class, our country's backbone, in peril. Rising health care costs, home foreclosures, stagnant wages, and shrinking retirement plans are all taking a huge toll.
The Chamber of Commerce has been spending millions to spread lies about this common sense reform, be we know that to revive the economy and rebuild the middle class in the long term, we need to empower workers to negotiate for better wages and benefits.
The Employee Free Choice Act will do just that - allowing workers to form a union when a majority of them want one. It will also stiffen penalties on employers who harass, intimidate, and fire workers for their support of a union. The Employee Free Choice Act is a critical piece of our economic recovery. I'm confident you'll continue to represent the best interests of workers in your district by supporting it.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
June 03, 2009
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STOP THE LIES
By the Chamber of Commerce |
The U.S Chamber of Commerce and Big Business allies have fought against:
· The eight-hour workday for women
· Child labor laws
· The Family and Medical Leave Act
· The Voting Rights Act
· Raising Americans with Disability Act access standards
· Overtime payments for millions of workers through reforms of the Fair Labor Standards Act
· OSHA ergonomics regulations that would protect workers from occupational injuries
· Increases in the minimum wage
· Living wages
· Now they've added the Employee Free Choice Act to the list.
"Our top priority is preventing the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act." - U.S. Chamber of Commerce website
Big Business and their Chambers of Commerce are demanding bailouts and tax breaks while laying off workers and paying big bonuses.
They've also launched an anti-worker propaganda campaign, funding front groups to spread lies about the Employee Free Choice Act, pretending to care about worker privacy. The Chamber earmarked $20 million in 2008 and 2009 alone to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act.
No surprise. These corporate interests oppose everything from the minimum wage to safety rules to family leave and unemployment compensation.
Suddenly corporations care about worker privacy. Yeah, Right.
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FIGHT BACK against the Chamber of Commerce's anti-worker agenda.
Visit www.jwj.org/freechoice to learn more and to get involved. |
It's plain as day: workers are struggling in this country. Today's workplaces are tilted in favor of lavishly-paid CEOs who get golden parachutes while working families struggle to get by. When workers attempt to improve their lives by associating with their co-workers to bargain collectively with their employers, they are often met by immoral, illegal and intentional resistance.
The Employee Free Choice Act, a bill now in Congress, will help to level the playing field for workers. The bill will give workers a fair and direct path to form unions through majority sign-up, help employees secure a contract with their employer in a reasonable period of time, and toughen penalties against employers who violate their workers' rights.
With a free choice, working people can bargain for better pay, health care and pensions and build a better life themselves and their families.
Unionized workers have more job security, earn 30% more than their non-union counterparts, and are much more likely to have health benefits, short-term disability insurance, life insurance, and pensions. More than half of all U.S. workers, more than 60 million, say they would join a union if they could. But illegal threats and a broken legal process prevent workers from organizing and negotiating for better lives.
It's simple. Corporations like the current rules, which let them get away with illegal firing and intimidation, to block worker justice and maintain their profits.
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