LGBT Coalition Backs Employee Free Choice Act

[IndianaGreen]

LGBT Coalition Backs Employee Free Choice Act

By PA Staff Writers

A broad coalition, which includes some of the country's biggest LGBT civil rights organizations, reiterated this week its support for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a law that would make it easier for workers to join or organize labor unions.

The coalition included the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, National Stonewall Democrats and the Human Rights Campaign.

The bill, which was coauthored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA), is a high priority for labor and its allies. It passed the House of Representatives by a wide bipartisan margin in 2007, but was blocked by a Senate Republican filibuster. President-elect Obama has pledged to sign the bill into law early in his administration.

One organization that played a key role in bringing this coalition of civil rights organizations together was Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, the voice of LGBT people in the labor movement. In a statement, Jeremy Bishop, executive director of Pride at Work said, "America's workers, who are already suffering badly from growing income inequality and declining benefits, badly need legislation that will ensure their right to organize by protecting them from bullying and intimidation by unscrupulous employers."

Bishop added, "Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is vital if we are to rebuild middle-class living standards for working people in this country, and LGBT labor is committed to making that happen."

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund Executive Director Rea Carey also expressed support. "The Task Force Action Fund strongly supports the Employee Free Choice Act. With our shared goals of equality and fairness, we stand with our allies in the labor community in support of workers' rights, as part of the larger progressive agenda," she noted.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/7815/

[David Dunham]

1. This bill is DOA with the economic crisis

[IndianaGreen]

2. The working class is the one in economic crisis

and since the passage of Taft-Hartley, the workers have gotten the shaft.