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Federation president praises Senate introduction of EFCA (3/30)

The AFL-CIO has issued the following statement by federation President John Sweeney concerning the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act in the U.S. Senate. March 29, 2007 Working families can celebrate the fact that Senator Kennedy has introduced the Employee Free Choice Act today in the Senate. The Senate will now have a chance to weigh in on the single most important piece of legislation to help working people build a better life for themselves and their families. The U.S. House of Representatives has paved the way for this momentous opportunity, voting by a wide margin to give working people a real chance to unite with co-workers and bargain for better wages and benefits. Working families are encouraged that the Senate is moving this key legislation forward in the first quarter of the year. A union card is the straightest ticket into a middle class lifestyle with a decent standard of living and the ability to provide for your family. But for too long now, working people have been denied the opportunity to have a union because corporations flagrantly and routinely violate workers’ freedom to form unions, and the law is helpless to stop them. The result is an America where CEOs are showered with lavish pay packages while working people are struggling to make ends meet. It’s fitting that this legislation was introduced on the same day as the media reported on a new economic analysis showing that per person, the top earners in America make 440 times more than the average person in the bottom half of earners. That’s nearly double the gap from 1980 and a key reason why the American middle class is rapidly disappearing. The Employee Free Choice Act restores balance to the system of forming unions and bargaining by giving employees – not bosses – the option of deciding how they will freely choose whether to form a union. The legislation also creates real penalties for employers who illegally interfere with organizing efforts and sets up a system to ensure that workers get a first contract even if their employers refuse to bargain in good faith after the choice of the majority to unionize has been certified. With the Employee Free Choice Act, the Senate has an historic chance to make sure that America works the way it should for everyone. ###