Bill directs the Bureau of Labor Education at the University of Maine. Under his direction the Bureau has produced invaluable research and literature in support of the Employee Free Choice Act campaign. In 2008 the Bureau published a briefing paper entitled "Restoring the Right to Organize: Impacts of the Employee Free Choice Act." This Briefing has been distributed widely throughout Maine.
Last Thursday Bill was part of the panel at the Sierra Club/ Blue-Green Alliance Press Conference held at the University of Maine in Orono. As a labor history scholar Bill provided context as to how we've reached the present state of affairs. He pointedly observed that the National Labor Relations Act was passed with a mandate that workers be encouraged to unionize. Unfortunately as Bill made clear that right has been eroded to near nonexistence.
For this reason Bill “is a firm supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act.” He cited recent research conducted by Kate Bronfenbrenner at Cornell University that shows that “in one in three private sector campaigns a worker is fired.” This sort of systematic denial of the right to organize is an “attack on the freedom of association” in Bill’s words.
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