< Back to Front Page Text size – +

Labor renews push for agenda

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 8, 2009 12:07 PM

With a friendlier Congress in power and a new administration just over the horizon, labor groups renewed their push today for two items high on their wish list.

One would make it easier for women in particular to pursue equal pay for the same work.
House leaders joined the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Supreme Court plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter to call for a bill overturning the high court ruling to restore a rule allowing workers to challenge each paycheck as a separate act of discrimination that can be challenged.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she plans for a vote on the bill on Friday.

"It is of the highest priority to us," she said at the news conference. "It is not only about what this means to women and their families, it's very important because of what it means to the economic security of our country."

The other labor priority would make it easier for workers to organize into unions, by just signing check-off cards instead of voting in elections that unions say are often manipulated by companies.

The AFL-CIO released a new poll it commissioned that found that 73 percent support the Employee Free Choice Act. The survey of 1,007 adults was conducted by Hart Research Associates from Dec. 4 to 10.

"In today's economic squeeze, workers need the freedom to bargain their way into the middle class more than ever," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a statement. "This new research confirms that the vast majority of Americans support workers' freedom to form unions to improve their lives and support the Employee Free Choice Act, which is key to making our economy work for everyone."

According to the poll, three-quarters of moderate/liberal Republicans, 87 percent of Democrats, and 69 percent of independents support the legislation, while only 36 percent of conservative Republicans support it.

After aggressively supporting President-elect Barack Obama with money and volunteers, unions have been worried that they won't get the full dividend because of the economic downturn and controversy over the auto industry bailout.

  • CommentComment
  • EmailEmail
» Back to Front Page
.

Everything that glitters ain't gold! The EFCA sounds good because unions have put together the kind of rhetoric that makes the proposed legislation sound like something good for working people and for the economy. But the unions also know that few people will get all the facts before reaching a conclusion. If arbitration forces a company into an agreement it cannot afford who picks up the pieces if the company closes and employees have NO JOB? I'm all for people making more money, and I support measures that stimulate the economy. I just think that people should take a closer look at this legislation to ensure that we're not jumping out of the pan and into the fire. Unions, after all, are a business.

Posted by Jordan Strong January 12, 09 12:32 PM
add your comment *(If you put a URL in your comment, it must be relevant )
Required
Required (will not be published)

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

About Political Intelligence

Reports from Boston Globe reporters and editors about the Obama administration, the Massachusetts congressional delegation, and other national political happenings.
see all Globe blogs

News from the Washington Bureau

Declassification of secret documents to be delayed

WASHINGTON - President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year, according to administration officials. (Globe Staff, 12:25 a.m.)

Tax break on profits again in jeopardy

An effort in Congress to eliminate a generous tax break for hedge fund managers, private-equity specialists, and venture capitalists, which could be taken up next week in the House Ways and Means Committee, is being met with resistance by opponents who say the move would weaken the economy. (Globe Staff, 11/26/09)

In N.E. governors’ races, GOP sees a chance to build on gains

Invigorated by state house victories earlier this month in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans are turning their attention to governorships in New England, where they believe the retirement of four incumbents and a competitive race in Massachusetts has created wide-open opportunities. (Globe Correspondent, 11/25/09)

Senators voice optimism on public option

WASHINGTON - Buoyed by their weekend victory on a vote beginning the health care debate, several Senate Democrats expressed optimism yesterday they could find a way to keep a government-run insurance plan in the sweeping bill. (Globe Staff, 11/23/09)

Health overhaul narrowly advances

The Senate narrowly overcame the first of two critical hurdles to passing sweeping health care legislation last night, mustering the minimum of 60 votes required to begin debate on the bill and opening a volatile floor fight likely to last weeks. (Globe Staff 11/22/09)

Latinos, blacks take harder hit amid recession

Latinos and African-Americans in Massachusetts and across the country are facing high unemployment rates that could spiral to levels not seen in decades as the jobless economic recovery drags on, analysts and urban community advocates say. (Globe Staff, 11/21/09)

Some lawmakers push back Catholic church on health care bill

Representative Louise Slaughter has a consistent record advocating abortion rights. So the New York Democrat was stunned recently to receive, for the first time, a letter from a Catholic diocese in western New York, demanding that she explain her vote this month against a health care amendment prohibiting insurance companies from paying for abortions. (Globe Staff, 11/21/09)

Support wanes for curbs on credit-card interest rates

Efforts in Congress to cap credit-card interest rates are faltering because of opposition from Democrats and a lack of specific support from the White House, despite growing consumer outrage over a rush by banks to impose rates as high as 30 percent. (Globe Staff, 11/19/09)

Obama domestic agenda largely a one-party effort

Despite early pleas for bipartisanship, President Obama is forging ahead with his domestic agenda with a largely single-party strategy, unable to corral more than a handful of Republicans on a wide range of major legislation before Congress. (Globe Staff, 11/17/09)

Beirut attack victims’ families face new hurdle

On Veterans Day, Christine Devlin stood in the cold in Westwood for the unveiling of a new memorial to local soldiers lost overseas, including her son Michael, one of the 241 servicemen killed in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983. (Globe Staff, 11/14/09)
archives