Related Articles

Working Families to the Senate: Pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

June 19, 2007

An estimated group of 4,000 union members and their allies rallied at the Capitol building on Tuesday, June 19 and called on the U.S. Senate to pass legislation that will ensure that working people can freely choose to join a union.

Members of Washington, D.C., Local 26 and Local 70 rally on Capitol Hill June 19 in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Senate began debate on the Employee Free Choice Act – which was passed by a wide margin in the House in March – in the evening of June 19. The proposed law would give employees at a workplace the right to unionize as soon as a majority signed union cards. Under current law, companies can make employees wait months, even years, for a secret ballot election. Labor law today increases the chances that the company will engage in anti-union activity.  

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) says that it was the role played by organized labor in getting pro-working family candidates elected in 2006 that made the Employee Free Choice Act possible.

Workers who spoke at the rally described how current labor laws did not protect them from retaliation when they tried to exercise their right to join a union. “The system is broken,” said Lee Mabry from New Haven, Conn. Six years ago, the majority of Mabry’s co-workers signed up to join the United Auto Workers, but the company forced a NLRB election. While waiting for the election to be organized, Mabry and his co-workers were harassed. Two activists were fired. The company threatened to shut down the plant if they voted for the union, Mabry said. “Working families can’t form unions until the Employee Free Choice Act is passed to allow workers to form unions without fear of corporate retribution.”

Braving the 95-degree heat, Walter Carroll, Assistant Business Representative of Washington, D.C., Local 26 said Congress needs to stand up and defend the freedom to organize. “Our right to choose is under attack,” Carroll said.

Organized by over a dozen international unions, the rally was addressed by Congressional supporters of the legislation, including Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).   

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says that the Employee Free Choice Act will give working families a square deal.

“If we are going to protect the middle class, we need to grow the union movement,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of the 47 sponsors of the legislation in the Senate. “We’re going to fight to make sure that if a worker wants to use their constitutional right to join a union, they can do so without fear and intimidation.” 

The rally was one of over a 100 held around the country. 

To let your Senators know that you support the Employee Free Choice Act, click here: