The object of the drive, which ratcheted up as Congress left town April 4 for its two-week Easter-Passover recess, was to garner the needed 60 senators to overcome a planned GOP-led filibuster against the measure, labor’s #1 legislative priority.

The Employee Free Choice Act would help level the playing field between workers and bosses in union organizing and in bargaining first contracts. It would do so by writing into law that workers -- not bosses -- get to choose the way their union is recognized in the workplace: Through a verified majority sign-up of authorization cards or through an NLRB-run election.

The bill also would mandate arbitration between the two sides if they can’t agree on a first contract within 120 days of starting bargaining, would increase penalties for labor law-breaking, and would make it easier to get court orders against violators.

But the unionists not only have to lobby several Republicans to join to break the GOP talkathon, but also must convince several wavering Democrats -- notably Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb. -- to back an up-or-down vote on the bill, rather than letting the GOP talk it to death.

The African-American lobbying, coordinated by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, includes both secular organizations, such as the NAACP, and African-American churches. All convened in a national conference call LCCR organized April 8.

Their drive will focus on those states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and California, where African-Americans are a high proportion of the Democratic electorate. And it comes just after the bill’s most virulent opponent, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, flew in business leaders from around the country to specifically lobby against it in presentations to members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The African-Americans’ campaign for the law will focus on its economic benefits, especially to minorities, by pointing out the difference between wages of unionized minority-group member workers and non-union minority group member workers. The unionized workers are also far more likely to have health care coverage and pensions on the job, LCCR executive director Wade Henderson told conference call participants.

“Those of us in the civil rights community know the Employee Free Choice Act is more than a labor bill,” Henderson told colleagues. “Labor rights are civil rights.”

If the bill is painted as just a management-vs-unions issue, it loses, he warned.

“This is a simple fix to a loophole in labor law,” added Arlene Holt-Baker, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President and the highest-ranking African-American in the union federation. “It would let workers express their choice in an environment without intimidation” by bosses and their anti-union campaigns, she added.

“For African-Americans, we must make this a priority,” added Bill Lucy, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer and head of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. A weakened union movement, which has been a key player in civil rights causes, diminishes the chance that African-Americans can achieve their other political goals, he pointed out.

Unionists also emphasized economics. The commercials by American Rights At Work discussed fairness and justice on the job -- contrasting that with Wall Street greed.

The AFL-CIO planned more than 300 events nationwide during the recess, plus individual campaigning by union members. "Massive grassroots mobilization shows working people really want and need passage of real labor law reform in 2009," federation President John J. Sweeney said beforehand. "Without workers\' freedom to bargain for better wages and benefits, our economy can\'t be rebuilt for everyone."

Notable events included a rally in Maine featuring Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed in America, discussing how unionization boosts wages and benefits, a 150-person rally outside Lincoln’s office in Arkansas, and hundreds of hand-written letters and cards for the legislation delivered to offices of Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

Specter, a former co-sponsor, publicly defected from the law. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both R-Maine, oppose it but are seen as persuadable.

One new TV ad, “Fabric of America,” was shot in a flag factory that uses union workers. “It’s an idea that makes America strong. It’s a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work. It’s health insurance when you’re sick or injured. It’s job security to provide for your family. It’s the fabric of a sound economy. It built the middle class. And it’s what the Employee Free Choice Act is all about: Letting workers choose to join a union to earn better pay and benefits. The Employee Free Choice Act. It\'s time our economy worked for everyone again.” The other, entitled “Greed” contrasts “the Wall Street way of doing business -- getting rich is everything” with its credo to “Don’t let workers get ahead.” It concludes: “Don’t let them get away with it: Tell Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act now.”

Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.

For more information
View the Labor Education Service videos on the Employee Free Choice Act