Want to share with you this post by Mike Hall, one of our AFL-CIO bloggers.
A dozen of the nation's leading women's organizations has called on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. In a letter this week to every member of Congress, the groups say that restoring the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain for a better life would benefit women and all workers.
The letter notes that unionized women workers earn almost one-third more than nonunion workers--32 percent.
In addition, women in unions are 19 percent more likely to have health insurance benefits and 25 percent more likely to have an employer-provided pension. (Click here to learn more about the union difference.)
The letter was organized by the National Partnership for Women and Families (NPWF).
Says NPWF President Debra L. Ness:
Unionized women earn appreciably more than their nonunion peers and are more likely to have critically important health benefits, employer-provided pension plans and access to the kinds of policies that help workers meet the dual demands of work and family. The National Labor Relations Act has not been updated in 40 years. We need to pass this bill so workers will be able to organize and bargain effectively
In addition to the National Partnership, signers of the letter are: 9to5, National Association of Working Women; Beth Shulman, senior fellow at Demos; Coalition of Labor Union Women; Family Values @ Work: A Multi-State Coalition; Feminist Majority; Legal Momentum; National Council of Negro Women; National Council of Women's Organizations; National Organization for Women; National Women's Law Center; OWL, The Voice of Mid-life and Older Women; and Women's Research & Education Institute.
This is a crosspost from AFL-CIO Now blog.