Rallying for Workers' Rights

AFSCME members joined 60,000 workers, community activists, religious leaders and civil rights advocates in more than 100 events across the country during the week leading up to International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10. Their message was loud and clear: Everyone should have the right to freely join unions. In Washington, D.C., President McEntee and other union leaders marched with 3,000 workers to the White House to tell President Bush and Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. This bill would make it easier for workers to join unions and negotiate fair first contracts. Slena Amerson, a developmental assistant for the Northwest Habilitation Center and a member of Council 72's Local 2730, spoke before hundreds of workers gathered at Kiener Plaza in St. Louis to tell Gov. Matt Blunt (R) to reinstate collective bargaining for state employees, which he revoked on his first day in office.