The Progress Report wrote:
LABOR — BIG BUSINESS RALLIES AGAINST EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT:
From: The Progress Report [progress@americanprogressaction.org]
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 10:36 AM
To: Tom
Subject: LABOR — BIG BUSINESS RALLIES AGAINST EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
UNDER THE RADAR
Today, Democrats in both houses of Congress will introduce the Employee Free Choice Act, which provides a “fairer path for workers to unionize by enabling them to form a union by signing cards of consent.” The bill has been called “a power struggle among labor unions and businesses” and business leaders, in conjunction with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are bringing in lobbying giants to kill the legislation. Rick Berman, executive director of the lobbying firm Union Facts, which spent $20 million last year trying to defeat the bill, is spearheading a new campaign featuring TV and radio ads in states where Democratic senators are wavering. One such TV ad features George McGovern saying the bill “cannot be justified.” On a February conference call hosted by Bank of America, Berman boasted that “we have mounted the largest public education on this in the target states where there are Senate races that are still in play.” In addition, the Chamber of Commerce has raised at least $10 million to supplement this effort and launched a nationwide campaign to fly 180 business leaders to pressure legislators still on the fence. They will follow up with a second round in April when the bill must be voted on. Although over-matched, the SEIU organized a competing “fly in” of 300 workers to speak with legislators about the benefits of the legislation in expediting health benefits and increasing wages.President Obama reaffirmed his support for the Employee Free Choice Act in a recent interview in the Oval Office.
And what ammo are the corporatists, big business lobbyists, and Republican ideologists bringing to the fight? This: the Employee Free Choice Act will strip employees of the right to hold secret ballot confirmations.
Have you ever known Republicans and right-wing blowhards to ever let the facts get in the way of a good con job? Well, neither have I. This time is no different.
The Employee Free Choice Act, living up to its name, offers employees wishing to unionize a FREE CHOICE. They have the CHOICE of one of two ways to proceed to those ends. One CHOICE is to vote in a union the old way using the secret ballot method, and the other CHOICE is called “card check”, or a signing of cards in favor of a union. In other words, they get a CHOICE of methods with the card check method being the one that is most streamlined and is most hated by the above mentioned blowhards.
The right-wing blowhards are spending millions of dollars to defeat the card check method because it would mean much more union recognition and union representation for many more workers. It would mean higher wages and better benefits for legions of workers and help America reestablish the middle class – just the opposite of what Reagan, Bush, and Bush tried to accomplish.
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