In advance of Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina’s “Save My Ballot Tour” slated to honor Senator Richard Burr and U.S. Representative Howard Coble each with a “Defense of the American Worker” award this week, Americans United for Change

asserts today that Sen. Burr and Rep. Coble have among the worst records in Congress on workers’ rights, and that The Employee Free Choice Act does in no way whatsoever abolish or strip workers’ rights to a secret ballot election in choosing whether or not to form a union

Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change and Raleigh native: “North Carolina’s working families would probably be surprised to hear that Senator Burr and Congressman Coble are being honored by a special interest group for defending the American worker when both have spent their career in Congress putting middle-class workers on the defensive. Whether it was their votes against raising the minimum wage for the first time in a decade, or their votes against protecting overtime pay, or their most recent votes against President Obama’s plan to create or save 3.5 million jobs even in the face of the worst recession since the Great Depression, Senator Burr and Congressman Coble are no friends to North Carolina’s struggling middle-class workers.”

“And who is “Americans for Prosperity?” Why would they try to muddy the water about Senator Burr’s and Congressman Coble’s anti-worker records in Congress and why would they spread misinformation about the Employee Free Choice Act,” continued Woodhouse. “It’s because they are nothing more than a front group for big Corporations that want to stop workers from having a better standard of living, for big businesses that don’t want to provide health care for employees, and for CEOs who demand platinum parachutes through a contract, but don’t want their employees to have one. Unfortunately, they’ve now resorted to making stuff up to protect the status quo.”

“The Wall Street Journal agrees that the Employee Free Choice Act does not in any way eliminate the so-called the “secret-ballot.” The fact is, if one-third of workers want to have a National Labor Relations Board election at their workplace, they can still ask the federal government to hold an election. This legislation simply gives workers another option – ‘majority sign-up’ -- to form a union and establish a level-playing field to bargain with employers for better pay, benefits and retirement security. The Employee Free Choice Act is about fixing a badly broken system for forming unions that allows big business to routinely harass intimidate or even fire workers who try to organize. In fact, 25 percent of employers faced with an organizing effort fire workers for their support of a union.”

“Amid the worst economic crisis in a generation, organized labor -- which built the middle-class in this country -- is needed and wanted more than ever because unions are the single best tool to create an economy that works for all. More than half of U.S. workers—nearly 60 million—say they would join a union right now if they could. Union members make 28 percent more and are 52 percent more likely to have job-provided health care and nearly three times more likely to have defined-benefit pensions than nonunion workers. If Senator Burr and Congressman Coble were true defenders of middle-class workers, they would support the Employee Free Choice Act and help restore North Carolina workers’ freedom to organize and their opportunity to lift up the entire community,” added Woodhouse.

The NAACP and a broad coalition of community, religious, civil rights and labor leaders prepare to gather at the Genesis Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C. for a news conference to present a “hypocrisy award” to Sen. Burr and Rep. Coble for their offensive invocation of the civil rights movement in accepting Americans for Prosperity’s so-called “Defense of the American Worker” award.

For More Information on EFCA please visit our websites and blog


www.employeefreechoiceactnow.org

efcanow.blogspot.com/

www.FreeChoiceActNow.Org

www.LaborUnionResources.Org


Civil Rights Leaders, NAACP, Unions, Clergy Award Sen. Burr, Rep. Coble 'Hypocrisy Award'

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Tags: Employee Free Choice Act, EFCA, Americans United for Change , Senator Richard Burr, U.S. Representative Howard Coble, Anti-Worker, Union Avoidance, Union Busters, Labor Union News, NAACP