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ORGANIZED LABOR NOT GIVING UP FIGHT FOR FREE CHOICE

By Amy Riggin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, April 24, 2009 12:58 AM CDT

Local union members gathered at the Pine Bluff Labor Temple Thursday to voice their support for the Employee Free Choice Act, and to mobilize a letter-writing and calling campaign in favor of the proposed legislation.

Marcus Bell, with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1658, writes a letter Thursday afternoon during a meeting at the union hall to Sen. Blanche Lincoln asking her to vote for the Free Choice Act. PINE BLUFF COMMERCIAL/RALPH FITZGERALD.

“I feel that every business and employee, if they want to get together and form a union, should have that opportunity to do so,” said John Tate, chief shop steward for Central Moloney Inc. of Pine Bluff and a member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 1658.

Roughly 20 people were on hand, representing unions including the IBEW Local 1658 and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local Union 966.

If passed, Free Choice would allow workers to form a union once 30 percent signed cards in favor of it. They could then choose to hold a secret ballot election, or the union would be recognized if more than 50 percent showed support by signing cards.

Morris Sanders Jr. is president of AFSCME Local 966 and vice president of the Jefferson County Labor Council. Unions, he said, have been responsible for making many strides for workers, including better health care and other benefits.

“The unions still stand for families,” Sanders said.

He argued that more unions would benefit the economy instead of harm it, as opponents have said, because if people make better wages they’ll stimulate the economy.

Sanders said there are 16 unions in Jefferson County with about 1,000 members. He said he hoped to spread the message to others that “they can make a good, honest wage and not be mistreated by their employers.”

Alan B. Hughes, president of the Arkansas AFL-CIO, encouraged people to write letters and make phone calls to U.S. Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark. Lincoln said earlier this month that she could not support the act “in its current form and I can’t support efforts to bring it to Senate consideration in its current form.”

“I’ve got a question for her [Lincoln]: When in the hell is it time?” Hughes said, responding to Lincoln’s statement that she is more focused on getting “back on track economically.”

“It’s time for Sen. Lincoln to listen to workers ... to take care of workers, who will put the money back into this economy,” he said.

Hughes argued that unions aren’t responsible for the mess that the economy is in, and pointed to the non-organized banking industry as an example. He said the current law makes it too difficult for workers to form unions without the threat of losing their jobs.

“You’re at the will of the employer — and that’s no way to be,” Hughes said, adding, “You live better with a union working under you; you’ve got a voice in the workplace. And nobody wants to break the companies that feed them and their families.”

David Anderson of Pine Bluff, Arkansas chair of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said despite claims to the contrary, small business would not suffer from passage of the act. He said close to 200 small business owners across the state, including Pine Bluff, have written letters in support of Free Choice. Again, his argument was “the more money people make, the more they spend.”

Hughes said union members make an average of 30 percent more than non-union members.

Two representatives of ACORN also attended.

“I think that people ought to have the right to unionize,” said Demetrius Melvin, lead organizer for Pine Bluff. “I’m tired of Arkansas being a right-to-work state.”

Anderson said he is one of about 90 who are lobbying for Free Choice on behalf of the AFL-CIO. The NALC alone makes up about a third of those who have been allowed to take time off work without pay to campaign.

Anderson said there are about 1,500 union letter carriers in Arkansas.

Labor members hope that Free Choice will at least make it to the U.S. Senate floor for debate during this session, and they remain optimistic that it could pass. Sixty votes are needed in the Senate for cloture, a process to prevent a filibuster.

“I feel like the bill still has a good chance of being passed this year,” Anderson said. “We’re not going to quit this fight until the fight is over with.”

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