The Employee Free Choice Act
Without the Employee Free Choice Act there will be no economic recovery. Thirty years of union-busting have flat-lined wages. If pay packets had increased with worker productivity, wages would be 50% higher. Unionization rates dropped, enabling companies to harass workers. Over the years the situation forced family members to accept poor-paying jobs just to stay even. Credit card debt soared. After the housing bubble burst, consumers maxed out their borrowing sources. That ended the American Dream for an increasing number of citizens. They lost their economic standing and their path to middle class solvency.
They have lost their power to bargain for decent pay and benefits. They have lost their ability to be the national economic engine and to provide health care for the family. No amount of deficit spending or company bail-outs can restore the economic order.
America will descend into Third World chaos.
Only the Employee Free Choice Act can make things right
| A growing, bipartisan coalition of policymakers supports the Employee Free Choice Act, proposed legislation that would ensure that workers have a free choice and a fair chance to form a union. Simply put, the Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to once again choose to form unions without the fear of being fired. The legislation would 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. Why is this bill so important? 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 middle-class families struggle to get by. The Employee Free Choice Act can restore the balance, giving more workers a chance to form unions and get better health care, job security, and benefits "" and an opportunity to pursue their dreams. Corporate interests are fighting the Employee Free Choice Act with everything they've got. They're protecting the status quo--a rigged system which allows employers to intimidate, harass, and even fire workers who try to form a union. We're not talking about isolated incidents: 30 percent of employers fire pro-union workers during union organizing drives. Protecting the right to form unions is about maintaining the American middle class. It's no coincidence that as union membership numbers fall there are growing numbers of jobs with low pay, poor benefits, and little to no security. More than half of U.S. workers--60 million--say they would join a union right now if they could. Why? They know that coming together to bargain with employers over wages, benefits, and working conditions is the best path to getting ahead. Workers who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than non-union workers, and are 63 percent more likely to have employer-provided health care. Without labor law reform, economic opportunity for America's working families will continue to erode. http://www.freechoiceact.org/petition/
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