Give Workers a Voice

Dale Charles, President of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has a forceful op-ed column in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He cites solid data to show that union members earn more and have better benefits than non-union workers, and he shows that this is even more important to African-American workers. He makes the case for the Employee Free Choice Act and asks our Senators to support it.

"For decades, unions have helped women and people of color bridge the wage gap. Through the power of collective bargaining, union workers have been able win access to health insurance and other benefits for themselves and their families. In fact, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, African American workers who belong to unions earn 36 percent more than their nonunion counterparts and are more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and pensions. . . .

"Most people in America don’t know that labor law in this country has been so twisted that it is now virtually impossible for workers to form a union without running the risk of employer harassment and even termination. Seventy years of labor law amendments, court decisions and a ballooning multi-million-dollar union-busting industry have effectively robbed workers of their constitutional and human right to choose whether to form a union to bargain for improved working conditions. . . .

"There is a new bill before Congress that would make it more difficult for employers to interfere in their employees’ efforts to organize for a better life. Approved by the House in March, the Employee Free Choice Act would give working people back their freedom to form and join unions by stiffening penalties on employers who violate the law. . . .

"Sadly, the debate on this worker rights bill is being hijacked by sound-bite arguments from the all-powerful business lobby, which falsely claims that the bill will eliminate union elections. The bill doesn’t eliminate anything. It simply gives workers another choice to form unions when a majority signs authorization cards. Such procedures have been in place since 1935, but today the choice is up to the boss. It should be up to workers.

"Simply put, a union contract gives some power to working people in circumstances where they otherwise have relatively little control. Employers don’t like that. It’s time we let workers control their own destinies, without interference from greedy corporations that care more about their bottom lines than their employees."