Last Tuesday in Fort Collins, Colorado, faith leaders and community members convened at Christ United Methodist Church for an evening presentation on the Employee Free Choice Act.
A brief candlelight liturgy honored workers who are illegally fired or discriminated against every 23 minutes in America for attempting to unite with their co-workers for a voice on the job.
Kevin Pape (below right), State Representative for Working America, explained his conversations with working men and women who have never had the opportunity to join unions. He said, "Currently, workers are harrassed, intimidated and fired when they try to exercise their basic rights. Faith and community leaders, elected officials, workers, and union members are gathering to show the united support for labor law reform."
Reverend Daniel Klawitter, Founder of Colorado Interfaith Worker Justice, praised the community food bank program that raised $6,000 for the Larimer County Food Bank recently with the help of community churches and labor organizations. He said, "While it is very important to feed the poor, it is also important to advocate for policies that keep people out of poverty in the first place. As a person of religious faith, I support food banks out of a sense of charity, but I also support the Employee Free Choice Act as a way to be in solidarity with low-wage workers who live at the brink of poverty every day."
Sonny Maestas also explained his personal experience trying to form a union at his workplace. After working at the company for 20 years, Maestas joined with his co-workers to form a union. Although they won their elections with an overwhelming majority, over 2 years later, they are still trying to bargain a contract. Maestas feels that this is an unfortunate situation where the company has no incentive to actually bargain with their employees and every reason to postpone and postpone. Sonny said, "A year is too long and that's why I support the Employee Free Choice Act ... We need to get that middle class back again and I think the economy could be on its way back to recovery."
Colorado Statesman article here.
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