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House to Vote Thursday on Free Choice Act
Time is running out: Congress could vote as early as Thursday on the Employee Free Choice Act. Health care professionals want a union voice to improve the quality of patient care. Only when health care professionals truly have the freedom to form unions--without fear of employer harassment--can they come together to stand up for quality care. Let's urge our members of Congress to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act: so health care professionals and all working people can have the freedom to form unions, bargain contracts and improve their lives.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Support the Employee Free Choice Act
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am a member of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, affiliated with AFSCME. As a union member and health care professional, I know that my union is my voice for improving the quality of patient care.
It is an outrage that health care professionals and working people in all professions routinely have to withstand employer harassment when they try to form unions.
But it doesn't have to be this way. The Employee Free Choice Act, H.R. 800, would replace the abusive system we have in place today with a simple and fair way for working people to express their desire to form unions. It would also strengthen penalties for companies that illegally interfere with working people who try to form unions and bargain, and it would establish mediation and binding arbitration when employers and employees can't agree on a first contract.
Many of my UNAC/UHCP colleagues had to overcome nasty employer campaigns before they could join our union. Others, in contrast, joined through the much more civilized majority sign-up process. I know that majority sign-up is the way to go. Please vote for the Employee Free Choice Act so that all working people can decide for themselves whether to form unions and bargain for a better life.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
February 27, 2007
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In theory, working people—including health care professionals—have the right to form unions. But in reality, the laws protecting working people are so weak and so badly enforced that this “right” hardly exists at all. Employers routinely coerce, intimidate, harass, threaten—and even fire—people who try to form unions and bargain good contracts.
Our own UNAC/UHCP co-workers know what these kinds of campaigns are like. When colleagues at Lakewood Regional Medical Center, for example, wanted to join UNAC/UHCP for a voice in patient care, the company sent out anti-union mailers and held mandatory meetings to barrage nurses with anti-union propaganda. After we won the union election with 80 percent support, they dragged out negotiations. When our members held an informational picket outside the facility, administrators turned on the sprinklers.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The Employee Free Choice Act would enable working people to form unions when a majority signs union authorization cards. It would also strengthen penalties for companies that illegally interfere with working people who try to form unions and bargain, and it would establish mediation and binding arbitration when employers and employees can’t agree on a first contract.
Some employers already use this fairer, more civilized process to see whether or not their employees want a union. They remain neutral during union organizing campaigns and, if a majority of working people sign cards indicating they want a union, then they recognize the union.
In 1997, our union negotiated just such an agreement with Kaiser Permanente. Since then, nurses at Kaiser Orange County, as well as optometrists and physician assistants, have joined UNAC/UHCP because the majority sign-up/neutrality agreement allowed them to express their desire for a union without fear of employer harassment.
Wouldn’t it be better if all health care professionals—and all working people in general—could make a free choice about whether or not to join a union using this fair and civilized process?
You can help make that a reality. E-mail your member of Congress today and ask him or her to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act!
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