For Immediate Release
Thursday, March 01, 2007
House Votes To Support Worker Freedom As White House Vows To Uphold Right To Harass
AFSCME’s McEntee: “Bush administration turns one blind eye to this unlawful behavior and winks at corporate America with the other”
WASHINGTON —Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, issued the following statement today heralding the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act by a vote of 241-185 in the U.S. House of Representatives:
“Every 23 minutes, an American worker is punished or fired for trying to join a union. All the while, the Bush administration turns one blind eye to this unlawful behavior and winks at corporate America with the other.
“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.
“President Bush has never met a workplace protection he did not wish to veto. This week, we learned he even plans to veto anti-terrorism legislation if Congress includes collective bargaining protections for airline screeners. These are dangerously skewed priorities for the times in which we live.
“Today’s courageous House vote on the Employee Free Choice Act ends years of official neglect of the American worker in the nation’s capital. Speaker Pelosi has proven she is committed and capable of winning the biggest battles on behalf of working families. But real progress can only be achieved once we elect a leader who cares about the struggles of the middle class. That is why union members will be returning to the polls in 2008 to finish what we started in 2006.”
