The Employee Free Choice Act: Fighting for Workers Right to Organize and Collectively Bargain
Over the past 19 years, Jobs with Justice coalitions have proven again and again that when enough of us stand together, we all start winning. More than 41 million workers say they want a union, yet workers who attempt to organize face vicious employer opposition.
Labor law and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) fail to prevent or punish illegal or immoral employer behavior; 25% of employers illegally fire at least one worker during a union campaign, and 1/3 of employers never negotiate first contracts even after workers vote to join a union. Workers need support from their communities to ensure that they are able to exercise their democratic right to organize.
Our country's labor law system is broken. NLRB elections fail to meet U.S. standards for democratic elections. Employers can obstruct workers' attempts to organize and bargain in bad faith with organized workers and receive only a slap on the wrist, if they are punished at all. We desperately need comprehensive labor law reform, such as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would hold employers accountable for respecting workers' rights.
JWJ coalitions throughout our network are engaged in promoting labor law reform-and in fighting alongside workers who are trying to organize every day. When community members stand with public transit workers; when congregations stand with health care workers; when nurses stand with janitors; when we stand together, we can win, even in today's harsh anti-worker climate.
JWJ has worked on thousands of union organizing, bargaining, and first contract campaigns. Since 2000, JWJ has helped more than 70,000 workers organize unions at 160 workplaces. That track record demonstrates the strength of the JWJ model of permanent coalitions, where labor, religious, student, and other community allies commit to work together to support a campaign for as long as it takes, upholding our core principles of solidarity, militant creative action, and strategic power analysis.
