APWU is busy mobilizing and educating their members on the Employee Free Choice Act. Whether through phone calls and letters to our Senators or by writing into their local paper, APWU activists are making their voices heard.
Ian Stublarec, grassroots coordinator for APWU, explains that the bill is about “giving workers their due rights to form unions. It’s probably the most important bill of my generation and I’m 27. The Employee Free Choice Act will rebuild the middle class, which has been dwindling away during my 27 years of life.”
Margie Brotherton Local 482 explains the importance of writing into our papers, “The general public does not understand what workers go through when they try to form a union. It’s really important for us to write letters to the editor because we do understand it and we also understand the direct benefits of unions.”
Mark Morris, President of APWU’s Local in Fredericksburg/Battlefield sent a strong rebuttal to an opinion piece in the Free Lance Star. Here are a few excerpts:
Carrie Lukas' recent letter included several inaccuracies about the Employee Free Choice Act that demand correction. Ms. Lukas claims that the act would strip workers of their right to a secret ballot. That is not true.
What the bill does is give the workers--rather than the bosses--the choice of how they want to form a union.
Opponents of the bill will do anything to avoid talking about what has happened to the middle class…We've hit a breaking point. The only way to get out of this crisis is to let workers band together to bargain for the wages and benefits they deserve.
Not only will this bill rebuild the middle class but it will also ensure long-term economic growth.
Margie reminds us of the impact that this legislation will have by adding,
“I have children who work that don’t have union jobs. Would they work in a union job? In a heartbeat, if they could get one. This will give my children and my grandchildren a chance to join a union and get the same benefits that I have.”
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