Help Ivo, Nikkia and Bill and perhaps yourself, read their stories and take simple E & phone action

[Omaha Steve]

Please read the stories of Ivo, Nikkia and Bill—just three regular people among the hundreds of thousands who have tried to exercise their freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.

They did everything right. But what happened to them is brutal and inexcusable. Every day corporations launch vicious campaigns against working men and women who organize to get ahead economically—campaigns of intimidation, harassment, coercion and even firings. And it hurts us all. Living standards drop. The middle class declines. The solution is the Employee Free Choice Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives has passed and is now awaiting action in the Senate.



Please urge your senators to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act.


Click here: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/supportEFCAsenate


And read the stories of three workers, just like you:

Ivo Camilo was an exemplary employee for 35 years at Blue Diamond Growers in Sacramento, Calif. Then, he was fired—because he exercised his freedom to join a union.

In 2004, Ivo and many of his co-workers were fed up with watching their wages sag while health care costs shot up and they fell farther and farther behind the cost of living. They wanted to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Blue Diamond responded with intimidating and illegal tactics, from threatening to close or move the plant to illegally firing union supporters like Ivo. In March 2006, a year later, a judge ordered the company to re-hire Ivo and one of his co-workers.

Although it was painful, Ivo said he would fight to form a union all over again. “I learned that I deserve respect and recognition for my work. I learned that I believe in justice and in equality. And that as a member of this community, I matter, my family and my co-workers matter as well.”

No one should go through what Ivo has—and your senators can help. Please urge them to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act. Just click here:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/supportEFCAsenate

Nikkia Parish and the other dancers of the Washington Ballet wanted a union contract to protect their bodies and their careers from injuries resulting from bone-crunching rehearsals and a tough performance schedule and to get the respect due to professionally trained artists. Management fought the dancers’ efforts to join the Musical Artists with almost daily mandatory meetings, hostility, phone calls and anti-union handouts. The dancers voted for their union, nonetheless, and, after a year of negotiation, got a union contract. But not Nikkia. As a vocal union supporter, she wasn’t rehired for the coming season.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Please urge your senators to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act. Just click here:


Click here.

After working as a forklift driver at Consolidated Biscuit Co. in McComb, Ohio, for 11 years, Bill Lawhorn was tired of abuse and disrespect. He and his co-workers decided to form a union: “We wanted to be treated like human beings. We wanted a better life.”

The company went on the attack. Harassment. Intimidation. Mandatory anti-union meetings. Threats to cut benefits and shut down the plant. Bill was told he’d lose his job. The company’s tactics succeeded with enough workers to tip the election.

The next day, Bill was fired. That was in 2002. The federal labor board ordered him reinstated with back pay and called for a new election. But after five years of appeals and delays by the company, Bill’s still waiting. Without a steady job. Borrowing from his children. With no union to help his co-workers fight for better wages, benefits and respect.

You can help workers like Ivo, Nikkia and Bill today. Please urge your senators to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act. Click here:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/supportEFCAsenate

Thank you very much for being part of the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO

P.S. Learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act and see videos of workers like Ivo, Nikkia and Bill at the AFL-CIO’s Employee Free Choice Act website: http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca