Young Dems of NC Stand Up for Workers

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Monday February 16, 2009 · 4:03 AM PST

2009/02/16 · 04:03

This Tuesday Senator Richard Burr and the business front group "Americans for Prosperity" are kicking off a campaign against workers' rights. They are hosting a rally at 10:30 on the Bicentennial Mall across from the North Carolina Legislature.

The supposed purpose of this effort is to protect the so-called "secret ballot" in union elections. In reality this is an effort to continue the roadblocks that have been placed in front of workers who wish to unionize by lying about the Employee Free Choice Act and keeping the ban on collective bargaining.

Because we know that workers deserve a voice, and have earned an equal paying field, the Young Democrats of North Carolina are organizing a counter-rally to stand up for workers.

In 2007 the Employee Free Choice Act was passed by the House, but was filibustered by Republican Senators such as Richard Burr. At that time, now President Obama stood up to support workers, saying:

I support this bill because in order to restore a sense of shared prosperity and security, we need to help working Americans exercise their right to organize under a fair and free process and bargain for their fair share of the wealth our country creates.

The current process for organizing a workplace denies too many workers the ability to do so. The Employee Free Choice Act offers to make binding an alternative process under which a majority of employees can sign up to join a union. Currently, employers can choose to accept--but are not bound by law to accept--the signed decision of a majority of workers. That choice should be left up to workers and workers alone.

Some Key Facts have been put together by the AFL-CIO for you to read. A much longer collection of information and links is available here.

SEIU put together a short video explaining the Employee Free Choice Act from the rally a few weeks ago where a coalition of unions delivered 1.5 million signed petitions in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

You can get information about the event by following this link to the facebook group:
Event info on Facebook

Burr's rally starts at 10:30 AM across from the Legislature (16 W Jones St, Raleigh). We will be meeting a little earlier to show our support
for workers.

North Carolina showed it was ready for change in November. Now it is time that we remind Big Business that we will not be silent between elections.

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Young Dems of NC Stand Up for Workers

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