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With a union job, Joe would be paid 30% more than he would make in a non-union job. Joe and Jane would have health insurance and a retirement. His workplace would be safer and most importantly he would have job protection. There would be job training so that Joe could actually become a licensed plumber if he wanted to and Jane could too.
Under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, which is endorsed by Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama and openly denounced by Republican Presidential nominee John McCain, Joe and Jane’s right to vote for a Union would be protected just like their voting rights are protected. Under current National Labor Relations Board rules, the right to vote for a union has been corrupted to mean that your boss has the right to fire you, deport you, blackball you or run you out of town if you exercise that right. Under the Employee Free Choice Act, if Joe and Jane decided that they wanted to start a Union in a workplace where there wasn’t one, and they along with her co-workers got organized and fifty one percent of them signed cards saying they wanted to form a union, they could have a union. Period. End of story. “Card check” as it is known and practiced in some public and private sector jurisdictions has resulted in increased Union growth. That’s what McCain and his cohorts are worried about. They don’t give a hoot about securing fairness and dignity in the workplace. They’re worried about having to provide a living wage, health care, retirement and to protect against workplace discrimination. Under the Employee Free Choice Act Joe and Jane couldn’t be as easily fired for exercising their right to vote for a union. They would have that right guaranteed by law just like their Civil Rights. In no other industrial country is this right so blatantly corrupted. In other countries where the right to form a union is respected as a Civil Right and that workers have universal health care, there is cap on CEO salaries, and the income gap is much narrower. U.S. union density is hovering around 12%. National polls show that 70% of American workers would vote YES for a union if given the opportunity to do so. It makes sense that they would. That they would vote positively in their economic self-interest. Its time that Joe the Plumber be given an opportunity to join a Union and to share in the wealth created by American Union workers whose labor has so enriched the countries wealthiest corporate interests and individuals. |
