Sam Hill
2008-07-29 23:41:06 UTC
What Could Possibly Be More Important Than Healthcare?
Posted by Todd Beeton, MyDD.com at 3:51 PM on July 28, 2008.
The possibility of Congress passing the labor-friendly Employee Free
Choice Act.
Earlier this morning, Anna Burger, the Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU,
spoke to the convention and I wanted to highlight her comments about
The Employee Free Choice Act in particular. There is a fairly
effective ad campaign on the air right now that is framing the The
Employee Free Choice Act as "anti-worker privacy" and uses a Sopranos
character to fear-monger about what passing The Employee Free Choice
Act would mean for workers. So where's the pro-Employee Free Choice
Act ad campaign? Hmm, good question. They simply haven't found the
right message yet but there is an acknowledgment that there needs to
be one and fast. It is a complex issue, one that's not easily broken
down into a one line concept or sound byte and it's hard to explain to
people why they should care. Anna Burger today made as good a case as
I've ever heard for why we should all care about its passage.
What would the Employee Free Choice Act accomplish?
Todd Beeton is a blogger for MyDD
The Employee Free Choice Act is a simple law that does 3 profound
things:
It says a majority of workers can decide to have a union
Imposes big penalties on employers who violate worker rights, and
Gives newly-unionized workers guaranteed first contract through
binding arbitration
No government interference. No corporate intimidation. No ridiculous
rules and roadblocks set up to block your rights.
And the key reason it is so important:
It is the fuel -- the opening -- for SEIU to change our growth curve
from 100,000 to a million or more workers a year.
That in itself, Burger argues, makes the Employee Free Choice Act
larger than any one single issue, even more important than healthcare.
We are the leaders of the fight for healthcare. We are the biggest
healthcare union in our three nations because we fight for it every
single day. It's time that the United States and Perto Rico join our
sisters and brothers in Canda and win quality, affordable healthcare
for every man, woman and child in 2009!
Let's be straight: we need political leadership, not petty arguments.
We need fundamental change, not incremental thinking.
We demand action.
Healthcare is critical, but having the freedom to join a union --
that's transformational.
The passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, Burger argues, will make
the difference between incremental change and transformational change,
because it will allow the creation of a movement that will not only
demand that change, but enable it. So, the Employee Free Choice Act is
more important than healthcare because without it, there is no
healthcare reform, or at least not the real reform we want and need.
Same goes for every other progressive legislation we hope to pass in
the post-Bush era.
Imagine a world where five years after the Employee Free Choice Act is
signed into law, SEIU is organizing a million or more workers a year
and the labor movement has added 20 million members to its ranks.
Through the Employee Free Choice Act we've built a principled,
permanent workers movement that will redefine politics for the next
century.
Then just imagine what our movement could do:
A real living wage for every single worker
Healthcare for every child, guaranteed from birth
Guaranteed retirement security
Quality child care everyone can afford
A tax system that rewards work
An immigration system that is fair to everyone, everywhere, always
Environmental policy that puts our planet and our children first.
Forever.
She's sort of making a process argument here, one that works in a
labor setting since it celebrates the power of workers as a movement.
How to make the average voter understand how important it is is
another question entirely and represents one of the challenges the
progressive movement faces.
(disclosure: SEIU is paying for my travel expenses to be here to cover
their convention)
Posted by Todd Beeton, MyDD.com at 3:51 PM on July 28, 2008.
The possibility of Congress passing the labor-friendly Employee Free
Choice Act.
Earlier this morning, Anna Burger, the Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU,
spoke to the convention and I wanted to highlight her comments about
The Employee Free Choice Act in particular. There is a fairly
effective ad campaign on the air right now that is framing the The
Employee Free Choice Act as "anti-worker privacy" and uses a Sopranos
character to fear-monger about what passing The Employee Free Choice
Act would mean for workers. So where's the pro-Employee Free Choice
Act ad campaign? Hmm, good question. They simply haven't found the
right message yet but there is an acknowledgment that there needs to
be one and fast. It is a complex issue, one that's not easily broken
down into a one line concept or sound byte and it's hard to explain to
people why they should care. Anna Burger today made as good a case as
I've ever heard for why we should all care about its passage.
What would the Employee Free Choice Act accomplish?
Todd Beeton is a blogger for MyDD
The Employee Free Choice Act is a simple law that does 3 profound
things:
It says a majority of workers can decide to have a union
Imposes big penalties on employers who violate worker rights, and
Gives newly-unionized workers guaranteed first contract through
binding arbitration
No government interference. No corporate intimidation. No ridiculous
rules and roadblocks set up to block your rights.
And the key reason it is so important:
It is the fuel -- the opening -- for SEIU to change our growth curve
from 100,000 to a million or more workers a year.
That in itself, Burger argues, makes the Employee Free Choice Act
larger than any one single issue, even more important than healthcare.
We are the leaders of the fight for healthcare. We are the biggest
healthcare union in our three nations because we fight for it every
single day. It's time that the United States and Perto Rico join our
sisters and brothers in Canda and win quality, affordable healthcare
for every man, woman and child in 2009!
Let's be straight: we need political leadership, not petty arguments.
We need fundamental change, not incremental thinking.
We demand action.
Healthcare is critical, but having the freedom to join a union --
that's transformational.
The passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, Burger argues, will make
the difference between incremental change and transformational change,
because it will allow the creation of a movement that will not only
demand that change, but enable it. So, the Employee Free Choice Act is
more important than healthcare because without it, there is no
healthcare reform, or at least not the real reform we want and need.
Same goes for every other progressive legislation we hope to pass in
the post-Bush era.
Imagine a world where five years after the Employee Free Choice Act is
signed into law, SEIU is organizing a million or more workers a year
and the labor movement has added 20 million members to its ranks.
Through the Employee Free Choice Act we've built a principled,
permanent workers movement that will redefine politics for the next
century.
Then just imagine what our movement could do:
A real living wage for every single worker
Healthcare for every child, guaranteed from birth
Guaranteed retirement security
Quality child care everyone can afford
A tax system that rewards work
An immigration system that is fair to everyone, everywhere, always
Environmental policy that puts our planet and our children first.
Forever.
She's sort of making a process argument here, one that works in a
labor setting since it celebrates the power of workers as a movement.
How to make the average voter understand how important it is is
another question entirely and represents one of the challenges the
progressive movement faces.
(disclosure: SEIU is paying for my travel expenses to be here to cover
their convention)