Workers' rights to organize unions and engage in free collective bargaining have been virtually eliminated over the last 35 years. The National Labor Relations Act in its present form makes it easy for employers to harass and fire organizers and intimidate employees via long-drawn-out elections, lax enforcement, on-the-job propaganda meetings, and outright thuggery. The Employee Free Choice Act, contrary to corporate and GOP lies, protects workers' right to choose but makes it easy for them to select a collective bargaining agent via signing a card and placing it in a locked box. If a simple majority of the employees sign, the union is certified automatically. The NLRA already allows this option but only if employers agree--all EFCA does is make the card check process a right.

America was at its most prosperous when close to half its workforce was unionized. Today, median real family incomes have fallen to well below European and Japanese levels, most of our manufacturing has been offshored to China and other low-wage, non-union places, and with the economic crisis we are seeing millions sliding into outright poverty. Unions strengthen our country by helping to ensure a balance of power between workers and employers. To help rebuild our economy, put pressure on your elected representatives in the House and especially in the Senate (where EFCA lost in 2007 after passing easily in the House) to pass it and give American workers a fair shake again.