Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood up for working families today by marshaling decisive support for critical legislation to guarantee workers the freedom to join unions free of employer interference.

The Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday by a vote of 241-185 after Speaker Pelosi made it one of her priority legislative agenda items.

Under current labor law, employers often use a combination of legal and illegal methods to silence employees who attempt to form unions and bargain for better wages and working conditions. When faced with organizing drives, 25 percent of employers fire at least one pro-union worker; 51 percent threaten to close a worksite if the union prevails; and 91 percent force employees to attend anti-union meetings with their supervisors.

The Employee Free Choice Act would level the playing field by strengthening penalties against offending employers; requiring mediation and arbitration to help employers and employees reach a first contract in a reasonable period of time; and permitting workers to form a union through “majority sign-up,” where workers sign authorization cards as demonstration of their choice to belong to a union. (Majority sign-up makes a critical difference in the lives of real AFSCME members. To read about one such example, click here.)

While the Employee Free Choice Act passed the House convincingly, the margin was not wide enough to sustain a presidential veto. Predictably, the Bush administration immediately promised to veto the Act should it pass the Senate.

In a statement, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said, “It is unconscionable that President Bush plans to veto the freedom of working people to join together for a voice at work. Without a legislative remedy, federally sanctioned worker harassment will continue to be the unwritten law of our land.”

McEntee noted that Bush’s promised torpedo-ing of the Employee Free Choice Act was his second-anti-worker veto threat of the week!

“Earlier this week, we learned he even plans to veto anti-terrorism legislation if Congress includes collective bargaining protections for airline screeners,” McEntee stated. “President Bush has never met a workplace protection he did not wish to veto.”

On Wednesday, AFSCME is sponsoring a Democratic Presidential Forum in Carson City, Nevada. This forum, moderated by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, will give eight Democratic presidential candidates the opportunity to meet with more than 700 AFSCME members to discuss the issues that affect working families.

Why Nevada? In his latest contribution to The Huffington Post, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee explains why, in 2008 presidential politics, the story of “how the West was won” will be the story of “how the West Wing was won” by the Democrats.

George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech revealed a president who is “dangerously out of touch with reality.” So says AFSCME President Gerald McEntee in a statement released after last night’s address before Congress: “In November, Americans voted for a new direction, not new rhetoric dressed up as reform. [Last night], George W. Bush missed what may be his last opportunity to listen to the American people and meaningfully tackle the challenges we face.”

Read McEntee’s full response to the State of the Union speech.

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman was dangerously wrong about the Iraq War. Now, in his latest contribution to The Huffington Post, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee launches a pre-emptive strike before Friedman can influence opinions on another topic the scribe frequently screws up: economics.

It has been a month since the Democrats took back Congress, but you don’t see House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi and incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pounding their chests or making partisan proclamations about their newly acquired political capital. Instead, they’re championing a consensus legislative agenda geared toward helping middle-class families that have been left behind by the GOP, notes AFSCME President Gerald McEntee.

According to McEntee, AFSCME played a huge role in delivering victories on Election Day, and now he describes in his latest contribution to the Huffington Post the formation of a new grassroots campaign committed to passing Pelosi’s ambitious “Hundred Hours” agenda.

From AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee

Today, Americans will make a choice. We will choose not to stay the course — but instead to change the course of our country. With our votes, we will demand a new direction in Iraq. With our votes, we will demand and end to the misplaced priorities that have meant tax cuts for the super wealthy paid for on the backs of middle America.

Today, we stand up for national security, job security, retirement security, and health care security. Today, we take back all of America for working families.

This election is personal for AFSCME members. It is not just about national issues. The results can directly affect our contracts. For years, the right wing has worked to weaken us at the bargaining table. If we elect a progressive majority in Washington and in state capitols across the country, we will have allies instead of adversaries in our effort for strong contracts with affordable health insurance, fair pay and real job security.

That’s why all across America, hundreds of thousands of AFSCME members have worked hard to make this change happen. From phone banking in Philadelphia to canvassing in Des Moines to door knocking in Spokane. In fact, y labor’s efforts, including those of Joel Gutzki, a member of AFSCME Local 1390 in Lansing MI, were recently profiled in an Associated Press story.

Today, we will show our brothers and sisters that their work mattered. Every workplace leaflet handed out, every phone call made, every door knocked on will mean fairer contracts, a bigger voice, and a stronger America.

Today, we will change America for the better. We have the power.

While AFSCME President Gerald McEntee doesn’t believe we should take anything for granted on Election Day, some on the right believe that Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is headed for near certain defeat.

In McEntee’s latest contribution to the Huffington Post, he takes conservative columnist David Brooks to task for praising Santorum while ignoring his atrocious record on issues that affect the poor and middle class.

Let’s take nothing for granted, warns AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee in his latest missive on the Huffington Post. Things are looking up for fair-minded people who don’t want to just stay the course. According to McEntee, “If we desire victory on November 7, we must back up our optimism with hard work. In the next two weeks, each of us must volunteer a night or two to phone bank and door knock.” Read the full McEntee post.

President McEntee blogs today at Huffington Post about AFSCME’s new political action committee created to ensure the right-wing doesn’t railroad gerrymanderd federal redistricting plans in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Here’s an exerpt:

Yesterday, in Nashville, TN, AFSCME announced the creation of Foundation for the Future - a new 527 group we are creating in partnership with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and NCEC Services.

The mission of the Foundation for the Future is to help Democrats prepare for the congressional redistricting fights that will occur in a few short years.

The stakes are high. Over the next decade, 36 state legislatures will determine congressional district maps - and of these, 20 have at least one chamber within four seats of changing hands.

AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee has become a regular guest blogger on the Huffington Post, a major progressive blog and news website. Check out his most recent post about how AFSCME and coalition partners plan to defeat anti-worker politicians across the country.

Here’s an exerpt:

With less than three months until Election Day, here’s the bottom line for every activist in the progressive movement: the only thing that matters is returning power to the people of this country. From the Iraq War to skyrocketing health care costs to privatization attacks on Social Security, Republican Party rule has been a disaster for America.