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The Employee Freedom of Choice Act
"America’s working people are struggling to make ends meet these days and our middle class is disappearing. The best opportunity working people have to get ahead economically is by uniting to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits. Recent research has shown that some 60 million U.S. workers would join a union if they could.
But the current system for forming unions and bargaining is broken. Every day, corporations deny workers the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life. They routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire workers who try to form unions and bargain for economic well-being.

The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041), supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help rebuild America’s middle class. It would restore workers’ freedom to choose a union by:
• Establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
• Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.
• Allowing employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation."

American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organizations
Click here for The Employee Freedom of Choice Act Summary

Why “Freedom of Choice?”
by John Brenton IV, ITPEU Representative

Recently I was checking my email and I noticed an interesting advertisement. Usually there are little “thoughts for the day” or “strangely enough” trivia on my free email server intended to peak your interest and entice you to visit another site. But just last week I noticed a headline with the words “Healthcare Industry,” “Labor Relations” and something called the “Employee Freedom of Choice Act.”

I clicked on the link and was redirected to the site of a company called Projections. Words like “Union,” “attacking” and “alarming” jumped out at me, and I realized I had stumbled upon a Labor Relations Management firm; In other words, they are “union busters.” I had never seen such a blatant advertisement for a union busting agency so it was a bit of surprise; although it shouldn’t have been. The union buster makes his living on fear, and what better time to exploit the fears and uncertainties of management than now! The Unions are on the move and the union busters are banking on a banner year of spreading their twisted message of union interference, strikes, and an unproductive workforce.

Many people deny that union busting exists. Even employees who have been the victim of union busting tactics are in denial. Good hearted people don’t want to believe that their company would not only support and encourage the sheer ruthlessness and relentless tactics, but pay extremely high prices for those services. Listen to what Marty Levitt, a very successful former Union Buster, has to say about it:

Many people believe the Unions to be a thing of the past, something that had its place in the formation of worker’s rights but is no longer needed. Not only are Unions seen as antiquated, but today’s Union’s are being blamed for the demise of American Industry, and the media has convinced the American public that Union’s have taken away our ability to compete. What does that mean exactly? What exactly would it take for America to “compete” in the foreign market?

Let’s take a look at what the future of America will be if big business continues having its way. The future of work with no representation can be summed up with one word: WalMart. While Walmart CEO’s 2007 pay package was over $23,000,000 dollars, the average WalMart worker was paid an average salary of $17,100 with no health care benefits. That employee would have to work 1,500 years to make what that CEO made in one year. Let’s see what WalMart is teaching their new hires about their rights:

They sure look satisfied with their minimum wage and zero benefits, didn’t they? But what happens when reality sets in and the employees realize that the only way to stand up for their rights is to organize?

According to WalMart and big business as a whole, employees have one right: the right to keep their mouths shut and work for less. WalMart and companies like theirs are campaigning heavily against the Employee Freedom of Choice Act. Things are going to get very ugly. As it is now, anyone who even thinks about a union is terminated immediately. If it is already happening now, how much more so when this law is passed?

What can you do? Hopefully you have signed the petitions which were sent to your Shop Stewards. If you haven’t, ask your shop steward about it! Anyone can sign, not just union members. We need as many signatures and as much support as possible if we want to preserve the American dream for our children and future generations.
God Bless.

SCA Health and Welfare Benefit Effective June, 2008
Effective June 1, 2008, the new SCA health and welfare benefit will be $3.24 per hour. More about this change is available at New Wage Determination.

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