Organizing, fair wages, and health care - oh my!
Big business is afraid of The Employee Free Choice Act. The Employee Free Choice Act, which is supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help middle class economic growth by making it easier for workers to unionize. Forbes.com reported last week on the fears of a union renaissance by some business associations:
Union membership encompasses just 7.5% of the private sector, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fearful of a potential resurgence in the United States. Now the group, which represents business interests, is opposing a laundry list of bills fluttering about Capitol Hill, which the chamber says would make it easier to organize a union, expand worker benefits at the expense of employers and lift the caps on punitive damages sought by employees in lawsuits.
So, what are they so scared of? Having to finally follow existing law that protects the rights of workers to organize? That would be terrible!
"What's going on on Capitol Hill right now is nothing less than a radical rewrite of our nation's unemployment laws," says Randel Johnson, the chamber's vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits.
But forget 2008. "We're very concerned about the next four years," Johnson says. The prospect of Democrats controlling Congress and the White House is unsettling for foes of labor expansion.
The presumptive democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has vowed unwavering support for the Free Choice Act as well as other labor issues like restructuring trade deals to protect workers here and abroad. Of course Sen. John McCain is in favor of anti-union laws and opposes, in lock step with George Bush, the Employee Free Choice Act.
Teamsters' spokesman Galen Munroe says, "It's pretty much accepted that Americans want change after the Bush administration."
And that's exactly what they're going to get.
