The measure (HR 800), to help level the playing field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining, won a 51-48 party-line majority in the Democratic-run Senate. But it needed 60 votes to shut off the GOP filibuster.
The legislation would enable workers to form unions when a majority sign union authorization cards, establish mediation and binding arbitration when the employer and workers cannot agree on a first contract, and strengthen penalties for companies that coerce or intimidate workers.
Unions and other advocates say that by giving workers more power to join together, they will strengthen the shrinking middle class.
All 48 Democrats who voted, including U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, were joined by the two Democratic-leaning independents – Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman – and Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania in voting to stop the filibuster that killed the bill. Forty-eight Republicans, including Minnesotan Norm Coleman, voted to keep the talkathon going. The 51-vote majority was nine votes short of the 60 needed to stop a filibuster.
Change to Win Executive Director Greg Tarpinian said "now we know where everyone stands on a worker\'s right to freely choose a union. In 2008, we need to elect a bigger majority and a new president who will champion the interests of working families...The ways of politics blocked…an up-or-down vote on the Employee Free Choice Act. But every day, companies illegally block the will of the majority by intimidating, harassing or even firing workers who choose a union. And they do this without penalty.”
"The legal system that is supposed to protect workers is broken, and they are paying a terrible price," noted Teamsters President Jim Hoffa. "Corporations trample on workers with reckless disregard for the law, and they must be stopped."
The union leaders said they plan to build on the campaign around the Employee Free Choice Act to educate more Americans about the decline of collective bargaining and the need to restore worker rights.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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The measure (HR 800), to help level the playing field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining, won a 51-48 party-line majority in the Democratic-run Senate. But it needed 60 votes to shut off the GOP filibuster.
The legislation would enable workers to form unions when a majority sign union authorization cards, establish mediation and binding arbitration when the employer and workers cannot agree on a first contract, and strengthen penalties for companies that coerce or intimidate workers.
Unions and other advocates say that by giving workers more power to join together, they will strengthen the shrinking middle class.
All 48 Democrats who voted, including U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, were joined by the two Democratic-leaning independents – Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman – and Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania in voting to stop the filibuster that killed the bill. Forty-eight Republicans, including Minnesotan Norm Coleman, voted to keep the talkathon going. The 51-vote majority was nine votes short of the 60 needed to stop a filibuster.
Union leaders hailed the 51-vote majority as momentum toward increasing workers\’ rights, especially when combined with the 241-185 House vote on March 1 to pass the bill. They promised foes would see retribution at the ballot box next year.
"Today\’s vote shows a majority of the Senate supports changing the law to restore working people\’s freedom to make their own choice to join a union and bargain for a better life. That is a watershed achievement — one scarcely imagined just a couple of years ago — and an important step toward shoring up our nation\’s struggling middle class," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.
Change to Win Executive Director Greg Tarpinian said "now we know where everyone stands on a worker\’s right to freely choose a union. In 2008, we need to elect a bigger majority and a new president who will champion the interests of working families…The ways of politics blocked…an up-or-down vote on the Employee Free Choice Act. But every day, companies illegally block the will of the majority by intimidating, harassing or even firing workers who choose a union. And they do this without penalty.”
"The legal system that is supposed to protect workers is broken, and they are paying a terrible price," noted Teamsters President Jim Hoffa. "Corporations trample on workers with reckless disregard for the law, and they must be stopped."
The union leaders said they plan to build on the campaign around the Employee Free Choice Act to educate more Americans about the decline of collective bargaining and the need to restore worker rights.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.