DeFazio Supports EFCA
DeFazio's Letter to Constituents About EFCA
From: Congressman Peter DeFazio
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 6:30 PM
Subject: Reply from Congressman Peter DeFazio
Thank you for contacting me about H.R. 1409, the Employee Free Choice Act. I am an original cosponsor of this vital legislation and I appreciate your support.
Throughout my time in office, I've fought for the interests of the working people of southwest Oregon and I'm proud of it. Too often in our history, huge corporations have made their profits by cutting corners on workplace safety or reducing pay and benefits. Corporate executives are regularly given million dollar payoffs when they are laid off, but the average American worker is lucky if he gets a week's notice. These abuses will not go away by themselves.
The right to form a union and engage in collective bargaining is the best tonic for these abuses. Unions protect the rights and standard of living for working men and women in this country by ensuring working Americans have a safe working environment, a living wage, and decent retirement and health care benefits. For example, workers who belong to unions earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers. They are 52 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and nearly three times more likely to have guaranteed pensions.
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was intended to protect workers' rights to organize and join unions and bargain with their employers for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. But the New Deal era law has been distorted by decades of hostile amendments, lax enforcement, and corporate tactics that bend or break the law. Some employers routinely intimidate, harass, coerce, and even fire employees who support unions, but the weakened labor laws provide little support to stop these abuses. In the event that workers succeed in voting to be represented by a union, companies can delay negotiations for the first union contract by challenging the results and then refusing to bargain in good faith, and existing labor laws are powerless to stop these stalling tactics.
The Employee Free Choice Act would allow workers, not corporations, to choose whether and how they want to form a union. The bill guarantees that if a majority of workers wants a union, they can have one, allowing them to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation. It also provides mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes, thereby preventing corporations from delaying contract talks after a union is fairly established. Finally, the bill establishes stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first contract negotiations.
Thank you for reaching out to me. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation and will fight for its passage. Please keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Rep. Peter DeFazio
Fourth District, OREGON