1.  Senate Introduces Employee Free Choice Act.  Momentum continues for the Employee Free Choice Act!  On Thursday, March 29, Sen. Edward Kennedy introduced the legislation – S. 1041 – in the Senate.  We now move toward building a majority of support in the Senate for this critical bill.

2.  1st Senate Hearing Held on Legislation to Protect Workers & Strengthen Middle Class.  On Tuesday, March 27, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held the Senate’s first hearing on the Employee Free Choice Act.  Testifiers included New York University Professor of Law Cynthia Estlund, Economic Policy Institute President Lawrence Mishel, and Errol Hohrein, who was fired for trying to form a union in his workplace.  As a result of his experience, Hohrein proclaimed “Labor law in this country is broken, it doesn’t support working people. We’re on the brink and no one’s looking out for us. It’s time for the government to do the right thing and pass the Employee Free Choice Act.”  Watch the webcast of the hearing.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee just announced it will hold the Senate’s first hearing on the Employee Free Choice Act on Tuesday, March 27 at 10 am in Dirksen 430.  The hearing will examine how the legislation will restore economic opportunity for working families.  Click here for more information, or to view the post-hearing transcripts when they become available. 

And while the Employee Free Choice Act has not yet been introduced in the Senate, you can let your Senators know how much you care about this legislation.  Write your Senators to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act!

On March 1st the House of Representatives passed the Employee Free Choice Act!  Some 241 members, including 13 Republicans, supported the bill.  A majority of our elected officials stood up against a barrage of misinformation and hundreds of thousands of dollars of negative advertising to support the rights of millions of hard-working men and women.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of interfaith organizations, human rights groups, civil rights advocates, public interest organizations, academics, environmentalists, and our activists, working families won.

This is an incredible victory for all of us who care about a more just and fair society.  But this battle is not over yet.

To win back workers' rights, we need to ramp up our efforts for the upcoming Senate battle over this legislation.  By making a donation to American Rights at Work now, you'll help provide us with critical support for our efforts for the Senate debate.  These next few weeks could make the difference for America's workers—please donate today !

Our own Mary Beth Maxwell, Executive Director of American Rights at Work, was quoted for the piece:

"The notion that corporate lobbying coalitions and front groups are the new champions of workers' rights and democracy is laughable," Ms. Maxwell said.

Check out the whole article here.

If U.S. workers could earn higher wages, benefits, and better working conditions, who would be against them?

A powerful network of anti-union employers, conservative business associations, industry lobbying groups, and right-wing policy centers and policymakers seeks to shut down choice in the American workplace.  Get up-to-speed about the opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act by checking out our new backgrounder .

Congress gave love to workers on Valentine’s Day, when the House Education and Labor Committee approved H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act.  Congratulations are in order as workers have now moved one step closer to being able to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Read the press release from Rep. George Miller, the lead sponsor in the House.

Professor Gordon Lafer testifies in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. House Subcommittee on Health, Education, and the Workforce, February 2007.

American Rights at Work brought the voices of workers and experts to the Hill to share why the right to organize is essential to preserving and growing America’s middle class.  On Friday, February 9, we hosted a general congressional briefing, "A Solution to the Middle Class Squeeze: The Employee Free Choice Act," to a packed Capitol Hill audience.

The event capped off a full week of events in which American Rights at Work staff, board members, and academics joined workers to participate in press events, hearings and briefings surrounding the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act. 

At the briefing:

• Our Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell summarized the obstacles facing workers who try to form a union;

• Author Beth Shulman described the essential role unions play in building the middle class;

• Political scientist Gordon Lafer, Ph.D, author of our report, "Free and Fair? How U.S. Labor Laws Fail U.S. Democratic Election Standards," highlighted why NLRB elections are in no way comparable to political elections.

Sharing their personal experiences were workers from Virginia, North Carolina, and California:

• Teresa Joyce , Cingular Wireless Customer Service Representative, experienced firsthand the difference between an employer that uses the law to intimidate and coerce its employees, and one that voluntarily abides by provisions included in the Employee Free Choice Act.

• Keith Ludlum, reinstated Smithfield Packing Company employee, was illegally fired for trying to form a union. The Operation Desert Storm vet had to wait 12 long years for the NLRB to order Smithfield to reinstate him.

• Ivo Camilo, retired Blue Diamond Growers vend pack operator, was fired when he exercised his right to join a union after 35 years as an exemplary employee.

These heroic workers also delivered powerful testimony on the need for the Employee Free Choice Act before the House Sub-Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions on February 8.

Yesterday, the Employee Free Choice Act was debated in the halls of Congress.  The House Education & Labor Committee held a hearing on the legislation, which featured the testimony of workers like Teresa Joyce , a customer service representative for Cingular who knows the difference it makes to have a free and fair chance to form a union.  

Watch the webcast of the hearing (requires Windows Media Player).

Check out a commentary on NPR’s Marketplace from American Rights at Work Board member Beth Shulman, author of “The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans.”  Shulman says guaranteeing employees the right to unionize is about more than just workers’ rights.

You can listen to the segment here.