Tell Congress: Support the Employee Free Choice Act!

Now that the election is over, those of us who care about our country's economic future can't afford to sit back and wait for change to happen. We have to MAKE change happen!

The Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore the freedom to unionize, is critically important to the future of America's middle class. President-elect Obama supports it, as do strong majorities in Congress. But powerful business interests have vowed a lobbying "Armageddon" in Washington D.C. to defeat the EFCA. We need to contact our Representative and Senators NOW and urge them to support the Employee Free Choice Act!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

With the economy in shambles, I strongly urge you to support the Employee Free Choice Act. Joining together in a union is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead, and restoring Americans' freedom to choose unionization is the single best tool for rebuilding an economy that works for us all.

American workers who belong to unions earn 30% more than nonunion workers. They are 59% more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and four times more likely to have pensions. Some 60 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could.

But they can't. Although our laws are supposed to protect workers' freedom to belong to unions, employers routinely harass, intimidate, coerce and even fire employees struggling to form unions. And U.S. labor law is powerless to stop them. Employees are on an uneven playing field from the first moment they begin exploring whether they want to form a union, and the will of the majority often is crushed by brutal management tactics.

The Employee Free Choice Act would fix labor laws and restore the freedom to choose unions. It would establish stronger penalties for such illegal employer tactics, provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes, and allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation. It doesn't eliminate secret ballot elections, it allows the workers to decide for themselves -- not the employer -- whether to form a union through a secret ballot election or by signing cards.

Don't be swayed by corporate lobbying groups that laughably claim to be fighting for workplace democracy. They just want to keep all the power in corporate hands and maintain their ability to crush unions.

The system is broken. Please fix it -- and fix our economy -- by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
November 20, 2008

Background Information

Joining together in a union to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead.

Today, good jobs are vanishing and health care coverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach. Only 38 percent of the public says their families are getting ahead financially and less than a quarter believes the next generation will be better off.

But workers who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers. They are 62 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and four times more likely to have pensions.

All workers should have the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life.