UA

UA locals, labor leaders and activists across Virginia are busy mobilizing to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in a host of ways. They’re busy contacting our Senators and Congressional delegation, sending in letters to the editor and educating their members on the issue.

Toney Rigali, President of UA Local 10 and the Virginia Building and Construction Trades, keeps a large stack of post cards at his local in Richmond. When members drop by, he asks them to send a quick note to our Senators asking them to stand with us on the Employee Free Choice Act.

At our working lunch in Norfolk, Toney explained, “I think we need to remind them that we worked hard for them and there was a reason for that. We believed they’d stand up for us when it counts.”

Andy Thomas, organizer for UA Local 540, talked with apprentices to explain the importance of the bill and to get them involved in the process by writing letters to Senators Warner and Webb.

“As an organizer for 10 years, I know what workers face going into an election. There is coercion, intimidation, threatening and firings. It’s nearly impossible to win an election when that’s what happens to people.”

“That’s why the Employee Free Choice Act is so essential. We have to have it to even the playing field.”