As Congress Stands Up For Us, Bush Shoots Workers Down

March 01, 2007

Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood up for working families today by marshaling decisive support for critical legislation to guarantee workers the freedom to join unions free of employer interference. The Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday by a vote of 241-185 after Speaker Pelosi made it one of her priority legislative agenda items. Under current labor law, employers often use a combination of legal and illegal methods to silence employees who attempt to form unions and bargain for better wages and working conditions. When faced with organizing drives, 25 percent of employers fire at least one pro-union worker; 51 percent threaten to close a worksite if the union prevails; and 91 percent force employees to attend anti-union meetings with their supervisors. The Employee Free Choice Act would level the playing field by strengthening penalties against offending employers; requiring mediation and arbitration to help employers and employees reach a first contract in a reasonable period of time; and permitting workers to form a union through “majority sign-up,” where workers sign authorization cards as demonstration of their choice to belong to a union. (Majority sign-up makes a critical difference in the lives of real AFSCME members. To read about one such example, click here.) While the Employee Free Choice Act passed the House convincingly, the margin was not wide enough to sustain a presidential veto. Predictably, the Bush administration immediately promised to veto the Act should it pass the Senate. In a statement, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said, “It is unconscionable that President Bush plans to veto the freedom of working people to join together for a voice at work. Without a legislative remedy, federally sanctioned worker harassment will continue to be the unwritten law of our land.” McEntee noted that Bush’s promised torpedo-ing of the Employee Free Choice Act was his second-anti-worker veto threat of the week! “Earlier this week, we learned he even plans to veto anti-terrorism legislation if Congress includes collective bargaining protections for airline screeners,” McEntee stated. “President Bush has never met a workplace protection he did not wish to veto.”