The Auxiliary to the
American Postal Workers Union

 

Legislation & Political Activity 
Updated January 30, 2009
CURRENT ISSUES FOR APWU MEMBERS

  •  Stimulus Bill Passes House of Representatives.
    The Stimulus Bill was passed in the House of Representatives relatively on party lines with all Republicans voting AGAINST the Bill.  The Bill now goes to the Senate - and the two versions will then be sent to conference committee.  With the economy on the minds of all Americans, this bill is of great importance to the United States. 

     

  • Employee Free Choice Act  --
     The #1 issue of our APWU Legislative Agenda 

    (Information below thanks to the aflcio.org website

    What is the Employee Free Choice Act?

    The Employee Free Choice Act, supported in 2007 by a  bipartisan coalition in Congress, would enable working people to bargain for better benefits, wages and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union. It would:
    • Establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
    • Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes (PDF).
    • Allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.
    Why Workers Need the Freedom to Form Unions and Bargain
    Joining together in a union to bargain for health care, pensions, fair wages and better working conditions is the best opportunity working people have to get ahead.

    Today, good jobs are vanishing and health care coverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach. Only 38 percent of the public says their families are getting ahead financially and less than a quarter believes the next generation will be better off.

    But workers who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers. They are 59 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and 72 percent more likely to have pensions.

    All workers should have the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life.

     

10 Key Facts about the Employee Free Choice Act

America’s workers want to form unions. Research shows nearly 60 million would form a union tomorrow if given the chance.
Too few ever get that chance because employers routinely block their efforts to form unions—and our current legal system is too broken to stop them. As many as one-quarter of employers illegally fire workers who try to form unions.
The Employee Free Choice Act would give workers a fair chance to form unions to improve their lives by:
  • Allowing them to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.
  • Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes (PDF).
  • Establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
In the 110th Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act had widespread support.
More than three-quarters of Americans—78 percent—support strong laws that make it easier for employees to bargain for better health care, pensions, wages and working conditions. (PDF).
Allowing working people to choose for themselves whether to have a union is the key step toward rebuilding America’s middle class. Union membership brings better benefits and fair wages and a real voice on the job (PDF). It’s no accident that the 25-year decline in workers’ wages in our country has paralleled a 25-year slide in the size of the America’s unions.
The Employee Free Choice Act would put democracy back into the workplace. Majority sign-up would ensure the decision whether to form a union was made by majority choice, not by the employer unilaterally.
Workers can still vote under the Employee Free Choice Act. At any time, if 30 percent of the workers want an election, they can have one. And once they have a union, workers also vote to elect their union representatives.
The Employee Free Choice Act has the support of hundreds of respected organizations and individuals—major religious denominations, academics and civil and human rights groups and others.
The AFL-CIO union movement is working in many ways to restore good jobs, health care and retirement security—but passing the Employee Free Choice Act is our top priority because we cannot create balance for working people or rebuild the middle class unless workers genuinely have the freedom to form unions for a better life

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Bill on Its Way to President Obama

 taken from www.aflcio.org

by Mike Hall, Jan 27, 2009

It’s been a long and bumpy road, but women and other workers who suffer pay discrimination are about to find a smoother path to justice now that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is on its way to President Barack Obama’s desk.

The House, this afternoon, passed the bill for the final time 250-177. The bill is named after the Alabama woman who, after working nearly 20 years at a Goodyear tire plant, discovered she had been paid significantly less than men doing the same job.

A federal jury ruled in her favor but Goodyear appealed, and in 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Ledbetter—and other workers—has no right to sue for a remedy in cases of pay discrimination after more than 180 days after the first paycheck, even if she—or other workers—didn’t discover the pay discrimination until years later. Since the ruling, hundreds of pay discrimination cases have been thrown out of court based on the decision.

Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

The new Congress has made a real difference in America’s working women and men’s lives today by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  This critical law will help ensure fairness and equality at the workplace.

Shortly after the ruling in 2007, the House passed the first Ledbetter Fair Pay bill, but Senate Republicans blocked a vote and former President Bush vowed to veto it if it ever got to his desk. 

This year, the House passed the Ledbetter bill Jan. 9 and the Senate approved a slightly different version Jan. 22, requiring the House to vote again. Obama could sign the bill as early as tomorrow.

 

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Last modified: January 11, 2009