An article in The Washington Post called it “a shield against corporate bullying”; a column in The Los Angeles Times said it “would restore balance to a system that is driven by aggressive employers, anti-union consultants, coercion and fear”; and The New York Times gave it its unqualified support. What additional proof does anyone who opposes the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) need in order for them to see that passage of the law would create a fair and effective way for workers to decide if they want to join a union?

How about 800 nurses joining AFSCME through majority signup, precisely the EFCA’s major provision — one that would give employees a voice on the job and allow them to bargain for a better life? On March 2, one day after the EFCA was passed by a vote of 241-185 in the U.S. House of Representatives, nurses at Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California facilities became the newest members of United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP/NUHHCE).

How did they do it? They simply indicated their intent to join the union by signing authorization cards. The signatures were checked by a neutral third party and Kaiser Permanente then honored the nurses’ choice.

According to UNAC/UHCP Pres. and IVP Kathy Sackman, “Respecting workers’ desire to have a voice on the job – rather than fighting the union – is not only the right thing to do, but it makes good business sense.”

Workers can choose a voice on the job without facing hostility and intimidation. The only way to make this the rule instead of the exception is by making sure Congress passes the EFCA.

For the past four years, Resurrection Health Care, one of the largest non-profit health care systems in Illinois, has systematically denied the rights of its employees to have a voice at work. It’s time for management to hear them loud and clear.

Despite its original mission of providing quality care, in recent years RHC has increasingly been run like a business, slashing budgets for patient care while increasing executive compensation. This is why the system’s nearly 8,000 employees, including 2,000 nurses, are not only fighting for themselves but also for the dignity of working families nationwide.

In order to drive the message home once and for all, AFSCME and Sen. Barack Obama will join forces in Chicago on Saturday, March 3 to support RHC workers’ fight for dignity. The rally will bring together labor, political, religious and community leaders including AFSCME International Pres. Gerald McEntee, AFL-CIO Pres. John Sweeney and Sen. Obama.

Be there on Saturday and come together for justice at Resurrection. For tickets, e-mail obamarally@afscmeillinois.org.

Every day, major U.S. corporations deny their employees the freedom to decide whether to form a union. They do so by routinely intimidating, harassing, coercing and dismissing workers who try to organize for a voice at work.

“Every 23 minutes, an American worker is fired or discriminated against for trying to join a union,” AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said in a released statement. “There is now an entire cottage legal industry dedicated to helping businesses foil workers who try to unionize. Sadly, their business is booming.”

On Tuesday, Congress reintroduced the bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act with 231 congressional co-sponsors. The bill would strengthen penalties for union-busting and establish mediation and arbitration during first contract disputes. It would also make it easier for workers to form unions through what’s called “majority sign-up,” which would require employers to grant union recognition if a majority of workers say in writing that they want one.

Currently, if employees present an employer with union authorization cards signed by a majority of workers, the employer can demand a secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). But under President Bush, the NLRB enables employers to intimidate, coerce and harass workers and drag out the process indefinitely.

More than half of U.S. workers—nearly 60 million nationwide—say they would join a union right now if they could. However, because the current system for forming unions is broken, only 12 percent of American workers are currently unionized.

The advantages of achieving collective bargaining rights for American workers cannot be overstated: Unionized workers earn 30 percent higher wages than non-union workers and are 62 percent more likely to have employer-sponsored health care.

“The Employee Free Choice Act will give employees the freedom to make their own choices about whether to have a union, without interference by management,” McEntee stated. “Until Congress acts, the right to join a union will exist primarily on paper.”

Everyone knows about AFSCME’s political successes last year. Now comes word that 2006 was a banner year for AFSCME when it comes to the growth of our union.

Last year, 50,000 workers gained a voice by organizing with AFSCME. Twenty thousand were child care providers from Michigan who, through a partnership between AFSCME and the United Auto Workers, organized through the largest card check in modern labor history – one that won bargaining rights for a total of 40,000 child care providers. From New Jersey to Iowa, from New Mexico to Oklahoma, thousands more workers are now proudly waving the AFSCME flag.

AFSCME’s successes bucked the national trend. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released 2006 union membership numbers yesterday, reporting a decline of 326,000 union members nationwide. Union density dropped from 12.5 percent to 12.0 percent of the American workforce last year, according to the BLS report.

How has AFSCME managed to add workers while other unions struggle to stem membership losses? We are fully committed to creating growth opportunities through worker political action and running aggressive organizing drives in cities across America. At our convention last summer, we passed the Power to Win plan of the 21st Century Initiative, a bold, new strategy to expand our ranks.

Recent polling shows that more than half of all workers say they would join a union right now if they could. That’s why AFSCME is lobbying Congress hard to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, so workers have the freedom to join unions without employer interference. Speaker Pelosi has said to expect a vote on this crucial legislation sometime this spring.

Michigan has nearly 40,000 family child care providers. Most providers in the state started caring for children in low-income families when welfare reform demanded that many people leave welfare for work. The federal and state governments helped ease the burden by subsidizing child care for these newly employed parents.

But that was 10 years ago - and subsidies in Michigan haven’t budged. These providers care for children up to 12 hours a day, and are paid less than two dollars an hour and receive no health insurance. It’s a disgrace that in this country these providers are treated so poorly for the important work they do helping to raise our children, according to AFSCME President Gerald McEntee.

That’s why, in his latest contribution to the Huffington Post, McEntee was pleased to announce the big news that these child care providers have made the historic decision to unionize under Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM), a joint organizing effort between AFSCME and the United Auto Workers.

For four years now, workers at Resurrection Health Care in Illinois have sought union representation with AFSCME Council 31 amid the stubborn opposition of their employer.

Their struggle, however, is more than just a fight to assert their rights as workers and make their voices heard. The hospital chain’s rapid expansion is not only having a severe impact on working conditions but also on patient care. Resurrection’s nearly 8,000 employees, including 2,000 nurses, are concerned about the service the hospital is providing the community, and rightfully so.

Poor management practices recently led Fitch Ratings, one of the nation’s top credit rating agencies, to downgrade Resurrection’s debt outlook from stable to negative. If that wasn’t enough, the hospital’s anti-union practices elicited a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board. Resurrection had to settle with the NLRB and was required, among other things, to inform its employees that they have the right to express support for labor unions.

Resurrection’s authorities can’t seem to read the writing on the wall. Their workers’ fight is not just about unionizing. It’s about dignity… for its employees and for its patients.

For more information about Resurrection workers’ struggle, visit www.reformresurrection.org

CA and NM university workers have been busy in the past few weeks fighting for fairness.

Custodians from the University of California and AFSCME Local 3299 are waging a fierce battle for pay equity. Although some of them have cleaned UC Berkeley’s dorms and classrooms for 5 years, they make a mere $12 an hour. Not only are they unable keep up with the cost of living, but they earn significantly less than counterparts from other universities in the area. Allied with students and community supporters, they engaged in civil disobedience (click here to see the video) as well as filed unfair labor practice charges against the university.

Struggling for better pay, fellow members from AFSCME New Mexico State University Local 2393 recently marched and delivered their wage increase petitions to the university administrators. In spite of its excellent financial health, NMSU is claiming the need to reduce costs and is hinting at the possibility of layoffs. With their jobs, health and safety at stake, NMSU employees marched for better pay in an event that garnered the attention of local television, issuing a call for the administration to work with them at the bargaining table.

Learn more about the battles that AFSCME members are waging by clicking on the above links and visiting our Web site regularly.

Yesterday, Lawton, OK general employees had their right to a voice on the job affirmed once and for all when the state Supreme Court rejected yet another request to repeal the 2004 Oklahoma Municipal Employee Collective Bargaining Act.

In 2005, Lawton and other cities persuaded the state Supreme Court to overturn the law, which grants municipal employees in cities over 35,000 the freedom to unionize. But in March 2006, city employees across the state, joining with AFSCME, successfully urged the court to reconsider its decision and reinstate the law.

In June, Lawton officials again asked the Supreme Court to repeal the law. Yesterday’s court ruling rejected Lawton’s request, and city employees will now seek union certification from the state Public Employee Relations Board.

Erlene Maroon, an employee in Lawton’s Police Records Department, called the decision, “a historic victory for freedom.” After the long hard battle Lawton, and other Oklahoma city workers have been through – first to pass the law, and then to fight off attacks on it in the courts – that’s no an understatement.