Sunday, June 11, 2006

Could the Employee Free Choice Act Actually Pass in a Republican Congress?

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is an act that would enshrine in law workers' right to unionize via the card check process, rather than having to rely on the flawed system of elections run by the National Labor Relations Board. Although this bill enjoys extensive bipartisan support, until recently the conventional wisdom was that it would never pass while Congress was in Republican hands. According to this story from People's Weekly World, it seems that the bill is just two votes shy of a majority in the House. Stay tuned - and contact your congressperson to express your support of the bill.

Fifty-seven million Americans say they’d join a union if they had a chance. And due to a hard-fought, close to the ground campaign, legislation to give them that right is now within striking distance of victory.

Going against the tide and all conventional wisdom in a Republican-dominated Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act, HR 1696, first introduced in November 2003, now is just two representatives shy of an outright majority in the U.S. House of Representatives with 215 co-sponsors in addition to its sponsor Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). In the Senate, as S 842, it has 43 supporters.

To put the campaign over the top, representatives from 20 AFL-CIO unions gathered in Washington June 6 to map out a plan to deploy a massive army of workplace shop stewards, according to Stuart Acuff, organizing director of the federation. [cont'd]

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