(The following is a letter from Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO.)
Dear Working Families e-Activist:
Everything important that working families have won during the last 100 years was won by or with the help of the unions that America’s workers formed through struggle. The list is long but includes: Overtime pay and protections including the 40-hour workweek and the weekend; Medicare and Social Security, workplace safety laws, child labor laws, the minimum wage, civil rights and much more.
Most importantly, unions are a way that working people win a voice on their job that brings them better pay and benefits, dignity and respect in the workplace and, put simply, a better work life and more opportunities for their families.
But now, the laws that protect workers who choose to form a union are failing. So, it isn’t a surprise that everything else we’ve won-including overtime pay and Medicare-are under attack as well. You can click on the link below to take action to restore the freedom to choose a union or keep reading for more information. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/sponsorefca/33egnzfj8x65
On paper, America’s workers have the right to form unions, but the laws protecting that right are so broken that employers routinely block workers from exercising their own free will to form and join unions.
New legislation that was just introduced with bipartisan support seeks to restore workers’ freedom to form unions by ensuring that when a majority of workers decide to form a union, they can-making union protections and benefits more widely available to more working families. And the union movement will launch a campaign to win this legislation on Dec. 10-International Human Rights Day. (Look for more on this in future e-mails.)
Some 45 million U.S. workers would form a union today if they had the chance, according to an independent, nationally respected polling firm. But employers routinely harass, coerce, intimidate–and even fire–workers to keep them from exercising their freedom to form a union. According to Cornell University research, one-quarter of employers illegally fire at least one worker during private-sector union organizing campaigns.
This is wrong. The legal system for protecting workers’ rights is broken. You can help change this by clicking on the link below and sending a fax to your representative. Ask your representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of this new legislation. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/sponsorefca/33egnzfj8x65
After you take action, please ask your friends, family and co-workers to get involved by forwarding this e-mail.
Thanks for all you do.
In Solidarity,
Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
Dec. 2, 2003