JOIN WITH US TO HELP PASS THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT!

Unions built the middle class.  By standing together, we fought for and won better wages, health care and pensions, and rights and safety on the job.  But these rights are quickly disappearing.

Unions protect retired workers, too.  When corporations try to cut retirees’ pensions and healthcare benefits, active workers can strike to protect them.  Collective bargaining gives workers the opportunity to prioritize their pensions and retirement benefits.  Without bargaining, these issues fall to the wayside, and retirees pay the price.  According to the Census Bureau, one in ten seniors lives in poverty, subsisting on $9,000 a year or less.  Retirees need to stand together to fight this ugly reality – tomorrow’s retirees won’t have benefits if today’s workers can’t bargain.

The Employee Free Choice Act, S. 1041, is currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate.  
If passed, this bill would finally crack down on companies that break the law and try to block a worker’s freedom to choose a union.  This legislation would say that workers can form a union when a majority signs an authorization card. 
  10 Key Facts About the Free Choice Act    Additionally, the Employee Free Choice Act would strengthen penalties on companies that coerce or intimidate employees, establishing mediation and binding arbitration when the employer and workers cannot agree on a first contract and enabling employees to form unions when a majority signs authorization cards.

For more background information on the Employee Free Choice Act, please 
go to: www.employeefreechoiceact.org.

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So what can retirees do to help? 
1) Tell your Senators in Washington, D.C. to vote in favor of S. 1041.  Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 1-877-331-1223.

2) Talk to your children and grandchildren.  Polls have shown that younger workers are the least aware of the benefits of collective bargaining.  
Tell them that those in unions earn 29 percent more than nonunion workers.  
Tell them all that our generation went through to create jobs that could support a family.

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Retirees are the ones that helped build strong unions, and now our life’s work is at stake. Help pass EFCA today to protect the future of our movement and our legacy.

For more background information on the Employee Free Choice Act, please
go to: www.employeefreechoiceact.org.        

http://www.apwu.org/news/webart/2007/webart-0727-efca-070330.htm