The Employee Free Choice Act will be one of the most important pieces of legislation to watch for when the 110th Congress convenes - important for workers, important for unions, important for the Democratic party. Workers will gain the ability to join unions - and unions bring higher wages, better pensions, health insurance. Unions will be more able to organize workers, leading to higher union density, which in turn raises the benefits of unionization still more. And strong unions help the Democratic party. In 2006,
The labor movement, despite being more divided and depleted than it has been in decades, produced record participation in the 2006 campaign, contacting 13.4 million voters in 32 battleground states and supplying 187,000 volunteers to help Democrats match the GOP's get-out-the-vote machine, which was far better financed.
Not only did organized labor put money and volunteers into Democratic campaigns, its members voted for Democrats: According to an AFL-CIO survey, 74% of union members voted Democratic.
In the Republican-controlled 109th Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act had 215 co-sponsors in the House and 44 in the Senate. Now it is called a priority by Nancy Pelosi, incoming chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee George Miller, and Ted Kennedy, the incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
The EFCA has three main parts. First, it requires certification of a union once a majority of employees in a workplace have signed up for the union. Currently, after a majority of employees have requested a union, employers can force an election. This may sound democratic enough, but in fact it allows employers to use their power over workers to campaign against the union, often harassing and firing union supporters in the process.
Second, the EFCA prevents employers from dragging out negotiations on a first union contract by creating provisions for mediation and arbitration. Third, it strengthens penalties on employers who fire union supporters during union drives - such firings are illegal, but the current penalties are too small to serve as effective deterrents.
The EFCA is unlikely to become law. If it is not filibustered by Republicans in the Senate, it will be vetoed by George W. Bush. But this is the sort of legislation that Democrats need to be fighting for, legislation that supports the right of ordinary working people to have dignity in the workplace, to join unions without harassment and intimidation, to earn good wages and get good benefits. It is legislation that would help provide the foundation for a real movement for social justice by giving workers safety in their own lives and the power of solidarity in unions. The fact that the Democratic Congressional leadership appears ready to fight for this is a sign of commitment to workers, unions, and social justice. If they follow through and fight for this, we need to be ready to fight with them. Let's pin this one on the Republicans and force them to articulate just how much they hate working people.