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QuEST 2009 Highlights

Highlights from the recently concluded 2009 AFT QuEST conference in Washington, D.C., included AFT president Randi Weingarten's keynote address, a town hall meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, a panel on community schools and remarks from U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. Daily updates from the conference, as well as video highlights, can be found on the AFT's QuEST 2009 Web site.

AFT Part of New Initiative To Promote Community Service

On June 22, President Obama announced a nationwide service initiative, United We Serve, which is the beginning of a sustained, collaborative and focused effort to meet community needs and make service a way of life for all Americans.

Intimidation and Harassment.

Threats and Surveillance.

Interrogation and Retaliation.

All standard tactics in the employer anti-union playbook, and during the past decade we've seen these tactics used more and more often.

In a study released this week, Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, documents this in detail -- including the increase in corporate tactics to interfere with, block and delay workers' attempts to form unions, and the ineffectiveness of current labor law to protect and enforce workers' rights in the election process.

The study, "No Holds Barred: The Intensification of Employer Opposition to Organizing," examines more than 1,000 union-representation campaigns and finds that "intense and aggressive" tactics to block workers' freedom to form unions are becoming more commonplace.

We need your help to make sure every senator and representative in Washington, D.C., reads this new study. Click here to share this study today.

Here are a few highlights (or lowlights) of the study:

During union campaigns, bosses threatened to close plants 57 percent the time and threatened to cut wages and benefits 47 percent of the time.
In more than 60 percent of union campaigns, workers are forced to attend mandatory one-on-one sessions with supervisors and are given anti-union messages or interrogated about their support for a union.
The number of employers using 10 or more identified coercive tactics to intimidate and harass workers has doubled.
When employees actually win an election to form a union, 52 percent still have no contract a year later, and 37 percent are without a contract two years after they voted to join a union.

Want to learn more? Click here to read the full study. (pdf)

Don't forget. Make sure to share this study with your senators and representative.

Employee Free Choice Act

For the first time in over forty years, Congress is considering a major revision to U.S. labor law. The Employee Free Choice Act has been introduced in both the United States House of Representatives and Senate, and will even the playing field for workers when trying to form a union and negotiate a contract. It is believed that the Senate will begin action on this legislation soon.

This is an URGENT – CALL TO ACTION to make our collective voices heard and let it be known that we support the right of workers to form a union without fear of retaliation. Representatives Diana DeGette, John Salazar, Ed Perlmutter, Jared Polis and Betsy Markey have all signed on as co-cosponsors and supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act. Unfortunately both of Colorado’s U.S. Senators, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, have not committed their support for this vital piece of legislation. We need your help in encouraging Senators Udall and Bennet to co-sponsor and vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.

How You Can Help!

We need the help of all union members to ensure that the Employee Free Choice Act passes through the Senate.

1.       Write a note to our Senators – Attached to this letter are the names, addresses, and telephone numbers for our Colorado Senators. In addition, we have provided suggested talking points for your use in writing your personalized notes.

Senator Mark Udall, Senate Hart Office Building, SH-317, Washington, DC   20510

Senator Michael Bennett, 702 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

2.       Call our Senators - The AFL-CIO has set up a patch-through telephone number for calling our U.S. Senators. Please call toll-free at 1-866-207-2060 today to encourage Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet to co-sponsor and support the Employee Free Choice Act. You will receive a short explanation of the bill before you are connected.

3.       Volunteer –If you would like to volunteer to talk to other union members about Employee Free Choice Act and how to get involved, please call Kevin Pape at 303-249-2963 or e-mail him at kpape@workingamerica.org.

I wish to thank you in advance for any action that you may take in support of America’s workers by advocating for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Your efforts will make it possible to restore workers’ freedom to make their own decisions about how to join together to bargain for better benefits and fair wages.

Meyers Mall Award Recipient

At the AFT Colorado Convention on April 25, 2009, an outstanding volunteer was awarded the Meyer/Mall Outstanding Volunteer Award.

African Aid Project

AFT Colorado has joined with other AFT affiliates in supporting a groundbreaking collaborative effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Your donation goes toward ...

* Funding/support for African programs.

* Training African teaches with AIDS preventions, counseling and care programs.

*Workshop Training.

Visit http://www.aft.org/partners/africa-aids/index.htm to obtain more information. Donations received at AFT Colorado will receive both a campaign pin and a wrist band.