On March 11th, the Employee Free Choice Act was re-introduced to Congress. It is currently in both houses as Senate bill S. 560 and House bill H.R. 1409. It’s time for Montanans to organize and put the heat on our representatives in Congress to pass this historic piece of legislation. Here’s how you can help:
- Get educated. Not sure about the Employee Free Choice Act? Read up on how these bills would help workers and the American economy. Check out this fine article from the People’s Weekly World: America’s Choice: Union Yes!
- Contact your Senators and Congressmen. The Missoula Area Central Labor Council is trying to get as many people to write letters to their representatives as possible. As of this writing, none of our people in Washington have sponsored either bill. Tell them that it’s important for them to get behind it TODAY!
- Senator John Tester (D): You can e-mail Sen. Tester here. You can also contact one of his offices or write him. The information is available here.
- Senator Max Baucus (D): E-mail Sen. Baucus here, or contact/write one of his offices (information available here).
- Congressman Denny Rehberg (R): You can use the House’s e-mail search to find Congressman Rehberg’s e-mail here. Or, you can write/locate his office with the information given here.
- If you live in another state (or are registered to vote there), you can find out if your Senators & Congresspeople are co-sponsors of these bills at the Library of Congress’ Thomas Database. If they are, write/call/fax them and thank them. If not, write them and tell them that you support workers’ right to organize and the Employee Free Choice Act.
- If you are new at this or aren’t sure what to say, use one of the sample letters that the Missoula Central Labor Council sent me. If you want to write something more personal, great, but just remember to keep it short and sweet. It’s better if we get many people to send concise letters than a few people to send lengthy ones.
- Get your friends, family, comrades, whoever to do the same! Big business and the ultra-right is trying to twist the truth to make EFCA sound like an assault on workers. This is an outright lie! Let’s get as many working-class people and allies to stand up and say that we want our right to organize protected.
Thanks for taking the time to get behind this. I feel like we’re on the verge of getting it through this time, but so far there have been only one Republican co-sponsors so it might be a harder fight than expected. We can’t afford to take it for granted that these bills will pass into law. Let’s get out there and mobilize for EFCA!
