The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Your View

March 29, 2009

Your View: Employee Free Choice Act lets workers have say

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Paul Marquardt, Eagle Lake

I am president of the Mankato Area Labor Assembly. As an elected officer representing union members living in the Mankato area, I would like to provide Mr. Haler (author of Your View letter published March 17) with insight and clarity into the Employee Free Choice Act.

This legislation would honor the employees’ chosen method for deciding whether or not to have a union represent them in the workplace. Currently an employer can insist on a National Labor Relations Board election, and refuse to recognize a union, even if 100 percent of the workers said they wanted one.

Minnesota workers are struggling to makes ends meet. Paychecks are shrinking and health care costs are skyrocketing while CEOs earn millions of dollars in bonuses. The average American family’s income dropped 18 percent in this past year alone, which equates to over $2 trillion out of the pockets of working families. We need laws that make it easier for average workers to get ahead in life.

Workers should be able to band together with their co-workers to fight for a livable wage, a respectful work environment, and health care benefits and a pension plan they can count on in the future. We need a process that allows workers to have a say in their workplace rather than the employer controlling the whole process.

That’s why the Employee Free Choice Act earned solid congressional support with 40 senators and 223 representatives co-sponsoring the bill.

I want to thank Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Tim Walz for being champions on working families issues by being a part of that coalition.

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