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EFCA Toolkit
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January 5, 2010 News Highlights
Broadcast/Online Outlets
The grim state of the states
TheRealNewsNetwork.com
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4682
JAY: Now, is there anything that can be done at a state level on the issue of low wages? Like, one of the issues that the labor movement's been raising in Washington was on the back burner, and now it's not clear it's even on the stove, is the Employee Free Choice Act that would make it easier for workers to get into unions. If that does get stalled in Washington or doesn't come out of Congress with much teeth, is there anything similar to that that can be done at a state level and/or other things that could be done to raise wages, generally speaking, in a state?
HEINTZ: One thing is is that the current crisis, because it's filtering through and is hitting hardest at the state level, has actually done the reverse of what you're talking about. So a lot of states are renegotiating with their unions to have the state workers to actually take either an explicit pay cut or work fewer days per week and thereby reducing the payroll, so reducing the total amount of employment in a way. In some states, such as in Massachusetts, what we're seeing here is that it's the benefits, it's increasing the employee contribution to state benefit packages. And the vast majority nowadays of unionized workers are actually in the public sector. So we're seeing with these budget cuts and the stress on the state budgets that that's really hitting unionized workers hard. Again, it gets back to this really difficult position that the states do not necessarily have, in terms of their budgets, a lot of policy space within which they can maneuver [inaudible]
Print Summary
Democrats May Push For Labor–Friendly Legislation
Connecticut Law Tribune
Robert G. Brody and Sami Asaad
http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=35924
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised workers change in the form of pro-employee legislation. Last year, we predicted that upon entering office, Obama would move quickly to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which he co-sponsored in the Senate. We predicted wrong as we, and many others, underestimated the extent of the economic collapse and the rise of the health care issue, both of which have been the focus of White House and Congress during 2009. As a result, almost a full year after taking office, many of Obama’s promises to workers remain unfulfilled. However, 2010 could prove to be the year of change.
Following Sen. Al Franken’s victory in Minnesota and Sen. Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democrat party, Obama has a full year ahead of working with a Democratic supermajority in the Senate (assuming the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat is filled by a Democrat).
However, many pundits, looking at the recent Democratic losses in the 2009 gubernatorial elections, predict Senate Democrats will lose their supermajority in the 2010 elections. Accordingly, we predict that if the economy continues to improve, as soon as the health care issue is resolved, Obama will turn his attention back to the EFCA and other promised labor and employment legislation.
Blog Posts
Theme: Card Check and 2010
TheTruthAboutEFCA.com
http://thetruthaboutefca.com/2010/01/04/theme-card-check-and-2010/
The meme continues: Will politicians try to force card check through in 2010? It’s something we’ll be hearing about until the issue is finally resolved. The latest to discuss it is Terence Scanlon, who writes in the Washington Times:
Unions don’t like losing unionization elections, so they want the U.S. government to accept the sign up cards that they use to call for an election instead. This would effectively replace the private ballot with the public clipboard and open up workers to intimidation and manipulation.
Card check was all but declared dead last year. Senate Democrats had the votes to end a filibuster, but there were enough moderate Democrats who didn’t want to go along with it. Where have we heard that one before?
Can A “Progressive Victory” Be A Loss For Employees?
TheTruthAboutEFCA.com
http://thetruthaboutefca.com/2010/01/05/can-a-progressive-victory-be-a-loss-for-employees/
Randy Shaw at BeyondChron, San Francisco’s “alternative daily news,” takes stock of the progressive agenda and eyes possible “victories” in 2010.
Oddly, the Employee Free Choice Act is one of them. Why odd? Because progressive values tend to run along the lines of these described by George Lakoff in The Nation: “care and responsibility, fairness and equality, freedom and courage, fulfillment in life, opportunity and community, cooperation and trust, honesty and openness.”
Action
- Distribute this handout to your coalition member employees and interested parties.
- Send OpEd and Letters to the Editor to your local newspapers.
OpEd | LTE 1 | LTE 2 | LTE 3
- Schedule Editorial Board meetings with your local papers.
- If you have the funds, run one of these print advertisements in your local paper. Should you have the financing, CDW can provide you with the artwork and place the ad in the paper through a contact who gets reduced rates based on their volume.
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