Click here to download talking points about the Employee Free Choice Act.
Click here to download tips for talking to workers about the Employee Free Choice Act.

The AFL-CIO has kicked off a nationwide campaign to educate and mobilize union members and supporters of organized labor behind the Employee Free Choice Act. The Employee Free Choice Act is a vitally important piece of legislation that would restore a worker's right to join a union free of fear and intimidation by their employer. Under the current system of joining a union, when a majority of workers sign cards authorizing the union as their bargaining agent, they still must wait months to hold an NLRB election. During that time, many employers will threaten, intimidate and even fire employees. Under the Employee Free Choice Act, once a certified majority of signatures are collected, those workers will become union members, free of intimidation.

While the Labor Movement has long been fighting to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, many union members are unaware of how it would benefit them. Only fifty-four percent of union members are aware that companies routinely resist unionization efforts by their employees, and even fewer are aware how often employer opposition turns to intimidation and coercion. Seventy-five percent of employers in the private sector will spend money to hire an anti-union consultant rather than use that money for better wages and benefits.

That is why the AFL-CIO plans to collect one million signatures in support of the Employee Free Choice Act by the beginning of 2009. This grassroots effort will provide union members with the facts about why the Employee Free Choice Act is necessary to preserve a strong middle class in the United States. In early 2009, the AFL-CIO will present the signatures to the newly elected President and Congress at a rally in Washington, D.C, and ask the House and Senate to promptly pass, and for the President to sign the Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA received a majority of votes in both the House and the Senate in 2007 despite the threat of a Presidential veto, but Senate Republicans were able to prevent the Bill from getting the 60 votes needed to end debate.

Now, with many Senate Republicans up for re-election and the chance to elect a Democratic President who supports the Employee Free Choice Act, unions are using the time preceding the election to talk to members personally, engage them in the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act, and get them to pledge their support.

As part of the campaign, the AFL-CIO and American Rights at Work, a public interest group that advocates for the freedom to join a union, have published materials to help leaders talk to union members or any supporter of organized labor about the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act. You can download facts and talking points about the Employee Free Choice Act by clicking on the attachments below. You can also learn more about the EFCA by clicking here.

If you would like to collect signatures from your members, please contact John Drinkwater at jdrinkwater@massaflcio.org to obtain pledge cards.

Attachment	Size
EFCA Talking Points.pdf	30.28 KB
Tips for talking to workers about the EFCA.pdf	38.68 KB