Arbitration is a key part of the Employee Free Choice Act that will let employers and workers who have formed a union reach a first contract in a reasonable period of time. Our latest arbitration newspaper ad - the second in a series - points out the hypocrisy of Big Business on arbitration. Many large companies are happy to support arbitration when it’s in their best interest. But when it comes to negotiating contracts with their workers, those same companies would rather use delay tactics to avoid paying better wages and benefits.
Arbitration is a key part of the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s a fair and effective way for workers to reach an agreement with their employers for better pay, benefits, and working conditions.
Big Business doesn’t like the arbitration provision in the Employee Free Choice Act, because without it, they can use unfair delay tactics to their advantage. But as our new newspaper ad points out, this is the only case where Big Business opposes the use of arbitration. They actually support arbitration in a whole host of cases, including consumer disputes, real estate transactions, personal injury claims, credit card disputes, banking disputes, home construction contracts, health insurance claims, and nursing home injuries.
In other words, Big Business favors arbitration when it’s in their interest to do so, but opposes arbitration when it helps workers bargain for a contract in a reasonable period of time.
Sen. Kent Conrad (ND) with Corey Kresse, one of the "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act."
This Memorial Day recess, unions and activists continued mobilizing to remind our leaders that working families are counting on them to make the economy work for everyone again. Building on our powerful campaign to spotlight real workers who give a face and a voice to the Employee Free Choice Act, American Rights at Work launched new efforts in Maine and Virginia. These are the newest “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act:”
Roving billboards, flyers, postcards, and banners featuring the “Faces” toured Maine, North Dakota, and Virginia. They made it to 16 cities and 29 events, and generated high-quality press coverage and phone calls to Senators.
Findings Highlight Need for Employee Free Choice Act
Overall, 16.1 million, or 12.4% of U.S. workers are represented by unions, though polling indicates tens of millions more want a union to represent them. In fact, studies have shown that if workers’ preferences were realized, as much as 58% of the workforce would have union representation.
In the private sector just 8% of workers belong to unions. It’s not that private sector workers are less likely to want to be in unions, it’s that their employers are intensifying their opposition to them joining unions.
New findings from renowned labor expert and Cornell University professor Dr. Kate Brofenbrenner reveal that employer tactics against workers' efforts to form unions have increased and become more punitive than in the past.
We want to know who Senator Specter will support: workers or Wall Street. So we're launching a new ad to remind the Senator that workers in Pennsylvania and across the country are counting on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
The ad makes it clear that the debate on the Employee Free Choice presents a choice: help the corporations that drove this economy out of balance or help working people and make the economy work for everyone again.
When Congress headed home for the recess, activists all across the country used that time to turn up the heat. After an incredibly successful launch in Washington, the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act” campaign hit key states during the congressional recess. Mobile billboards logged over 5000 miles across America to make sure lawmakers couldn’t ignore the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.
In Arkansas, workers rallied in support of the bill. Dan Luevano, one of the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act,” was on hand to tell his story in Colorado. In Pittsburgh, over 300 people rallied in support of the Employee Free Choice Act and delivered letters to Senator Specter’s office. All over the country, over 400 community events highlighted the need for labor law reform and the faces of the workers impacted by our broken labor law sysem.
We're launching a new, hard-hitting ad to support the Employee Free Choice Act. "Greed" calls out corporations, many of whom have received billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts, for opposing the Employee Free Choice Act.
The ad points out that instead of focusing on rebuilding our economy, companies like Bank of America have been working against workers' freedom to bargain collectively, exploiting their low wage workers, and rewarding their leaders with million dollar payouts.
Just like their characters from The West Wing, Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff care deeply about the struggles of working families.
That's why they came to Washington, DC to help kick off our "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act" campaign and recorded this video. Check it out!
We're kicking off a tremendous surge of activity in support of the Employee Free Choice Act during the upcoming congressional recess. As members of Congress head home, we're launching a new television ad for the Employee Free Choice Act.
"Fabric of America" reminds viewers that unions are the fabric of a sound economy and the foundation of America's middle class. Building on this message, over 300 events will be held across the country to remind elected officials that a majority of the public demands passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
On March 31, MSNBC’s “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” featured a live interview on the Employee Free Choice Act with American Rights at Work Board Member Bradley Whitford and his fellow West Wing star Richard Schiff.
A growing, bipartisan coalition of policymakers supports the Employee
Free Choice Act, federal legislation that would ensure workers have a
free choice and a fair chance to form a union.
Latest Updates 
When Congress headed home for the recess, activists all across the country used that time to turn up the heat. After an incredibly successful launch in Washington, the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act” campaign hit key states during the congressional recess. Mobile billboards logged over 5000 miles across America to make sure lawmakers couldn’t ignore the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.
