Organize the South

Today, March 10, 2009, the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced into Congress. The ability to join a union could actually get a little fairer if this passes. The EFCA makes it possible to have a legally recognized union through card check. Card check is a modern version of what used to happen back when the National Labor Rights Act was first introduced. If a majority of workers sign a card saying they want a union, there's a union. Right now, 33% of workers have to sign a card saying they want an election. Then the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) runs an election. Of course, while the workers are deciding if they want a card or not they are harrassed by management. If there is a call for an election, the boss then delays it by going through an endless hearing process that decides who gets to vote and who doesn't. During this delay the workers are subjected to a fierce anti-union campaign, sometimes run by professional human rights violators. Here's how one of these defenders of authoritarianism advertises:

Isn't nice to know that in a free country you can make a good living using "aggressive, practical and tacticall sound" approaches to prevent people from exercises their constitutional right of freedom of association?

The pro-poverty coalition of the Chamber of Commerce, American Manufacturing Association, etc. are blathering on about the end of the world. Rachel Maddow nails the response pretty well. See the ad in the Washington Post for a bit more info.