As UE members look forward to the start of the summer season there are two political action battles underway which require immediate action on our part. Legislation to restore the right to organize as well as tackling the healthcare crisis are beginning to move through Congress, and lawmakers need to hear from you. Let’s take a look at each of these issues, as well as the actions needed on our part to ensure that we make the kind of progress that is so urgently needed on both fronts.
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)(S.560/H.R1409) would restore the right to organize, force employers to negotiate first union contracts, and punish employers who violate the rights of workers. Please visit the Freedom to Organize Campaign section of the UE website if you need more background info on this critical legislation to make it possible for workers to organize into unions again. UE members from coast to coast recently filled out thousands of postcards in support of EFCA which were delivered to Senators recently, and coverage of the delivery of the postcards may be found under both the UE News Update and Political Action Update sections of our main web page. A newly-released blockbuster report exposes the routine union smashing behavior of companies, entitled “No Holds Barred: The Intensification of Employer Opposition to Organizing.” A glance at this report will remind us of the urgent need to pass EFCA as a means to reining-in the epidemic of illegal anti-union corporate conduct in the workplace today. It is now expected that the battle to pass EFCA will begin in the Senate sometime in later June.
The Medicare for All Act (H.R.676) and the related American Health Security Act (S.703) would both create a single-payer healthcare system in the U.S. in order to extend coverage to everyone, reduce costs, and expel the insurance companies from the system. As the Obama administration and Congress begin to craft their healthcare reform proposals it is important that they hear from you in support of the single-payer solution. For more information on this legislation please visit the websites of Health Care Now!, Labor for Single Payer, and the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care. It is now expected that the preliminary healthcare reform proposals from the White House and Senate will be completed sometime this summer.
Your U.S. Representative and both Senators may be reached by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your lawmaker, and leave a brief message in support of Employee Free Choice Act (S.560/H.R.1409) as well as the Medicare for All Act/American Health Security Act (H.R.676/S.703) with the staff member. Include your name, mailing address, UE local, and ask them to send a brief letter in response to your call. If you have trouble getting through try calling their offices in your district or state. You may find these phone numbers in the blue pages of your phone book or by visiting the Library of Congress Thomas web page.
Commenting on the need for phone calls in support of this critical legislation, UE General Secretary-Treasurer Bruce Klipple said, "If you do not make your phone calls in support of these bills then you can be sure that your boss made his calls to try to stop them. Management ranks in both private companies and the public sector both are in high gear to derail any chance for progress on either restoring the right to organize or fixing the healthcare crisis. I am asking all UE members to pick up their phones and make these calls to lawmakers. We need action on these bills. We are tired of waiting. Call 202-224-3121 right now and tell them to support these critical bills to restore the right to organize and finally fix our healthcare mess. And thanks go to the thousands of UE members who have been doing their part. Let's keep up the momentum as we enter the summer season."