House Passes Employee Free Choice Act

The House of Representatives just passed the Employee Free Choice Act, which I wrote about here.  The bill, which would enable workers to unionize with less fear of employer harassment and intimidation, passed overwhelmingly, 241-185.

Although it faces probable filibuster in the Senate and certain veto by Bush - just as he intends to veto 9/11 legislation because it contains a provision allowing unionization - the passage of the EFCA is nonetheless hugely important.  There's legitimate reason to be frustrated with Congressional Democrats for not moving more decisively on withdrawal from Iraq, but they have moved strongly on workers' rights.  As Nancy Pelosi said during debate on the EFCA

The Employee Free Choice Act is the most important labor law reform legislation of this generation.  But this legislation is about more than labor law: it is about basic labor rights, about the rule of the majority free from intimidation, and about protecting jobs.

It is a guarantee - when a majority of workers say they want a union, they will get a union.

To defeat this, Republicans will have to go on record against workers.  Not against unions, but against the millions of non-union workers in this country who want to join unions.  Democrats are forcing them to lay that contempt for workers bare before the nation, in strong contrast to Democratic respect for workers.  Passage of the EFCA through the House - especially by such a large margin - is an incredible step forward for working people.

Update: There's video from the debate at Nancy Pelosi's blog, but especially see Rep. George Miller's powerful statement.

Update II by kos: Two Dems voted against the bill, 13 Republicans voted for it.

Republicans for the bill:

Mike Ferguson (NJ-07)
Vito Fosella (NY-13)
Pete King (NY-03)
Steve LaTourette (OH-14)
Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02)
Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11)
John McHugh (NY-23)
Tim Murphy (PA-18)
Jim Saxton (NJ-03)
Chris Shays (CT-04)
Christopher Smith (NJ-04)
Jim Walsh (NY-25)
Don Young (AK-AL)

Can you tell Republicans in New England (the one left in the House), as well as neighboring states New York and New Jersey are feeling their impending extinction? This list includes some of our best pickup opportunities in 2008, so they're probably desperate to negate those "Rep. X voted 98 percent of the time with George Bush" attacks.

Democrats against it:

Dan Boren (OK-02)
Gene Taylor (MS-04)

Cue in "Democrats are divided" story...