These violations of workersвЂ™ rights are no small offense. Even after workers successfully form a union, in one-third of the instances, private-sector employers do not negotiate a contract.In 25 percent of organizing campaigns, private-sector employers illegally fire workers because they want to form a union.Half of all private-sector employers threaten to shut down partially or totally if employees join together in a union.Seventy-five percent of private-sector companies hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns, often based on mass psychology and distorting the law.Ninety-two percent of private-sector employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force employees to attend closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda 80 percent require supervisors to attend training sessions on attacking unions and 78 percent require that supervisors deliver anti-union messages to workers they oversee.Yet, as studies show, current practices often do not give them the chance to do so: They are also far more likely to receive benefits such as health insurance and pension plans. Unionized workers earn, on average, 15 percent to 20 percent more than non-unionized workers in comparable jobs. Nearly 60 million workers indicate they would join unions if permitted to freely do so. It would restore workersвЂ™ right to organize by ending the nightmare of intimidation and endless red tape that many employers have at their disposal.

The bill would give workers the opportunity to form unions by signing cards or petitions-a вЂњcard checkвЂќ system-impose stronger penalties on employers who violate labor laws, and prevent employers from dragging out contract negotiations. The bill, one of the major recommendations of the Center for American Progress Task Force on PovertyвЂ™s recently released report, вЂњ From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half,вЂќ would be вЂњan important and necessary measure to lift working families out of poverty, expand the middle class, and provide economic opportunity to the American workers who need it most.,вЂќ according to CAP President and CEO John Podesta. The Senate will consider and vote tomorrow on the Employee Free Choice Act (S.1041), a major step in the fight to strengthen workersвЂ™ rights, which have been dangerously and deliberately eroded over the past six years.

Employee free choice act s 1041