A broad coalition, which includes some of the country's biggest LGBT civil rights organizations, reiterated this week its support for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a law that would make it easier for workers to join or organize labor unions.
The coalition included the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, National Stonewall Democrats and the Human Rights Campaign.
The bill, which was coauthored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA), is a high priority for labor and its allies. It passed the House of Representatives by a wide bipartisan margin in 2007, but was blocked by a Senate Republican filibuster. President-elect Obama has pledged to sign the bill into law early in his administration.
One organization that played a key role in bringing this coalition of civil rights organizations together was Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, the voice of LGBT people in the labor movement. In a statement, Jeremy Bishop, executive director of Pride at Work said, "America's workers, who are already suffering badly from growing income inequality and declining benefits, badly need legislation that will ensure their right to organize by protecting them from bullying and intimidation by unscrupulous employers."
Bishop added, "Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is vital if we are to rebuild middle-class living standards for working people in this country, and LGBT labor is committed to making that happen."
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund Executive Director Rea Carey also expressed support. "The Task Force Action Fund strongly supports the Employee Free Choice Act. With our shared goals of equality and fairness, we stand with our allies in the labor community in support of workers' rights, as part of the larger progressive agenda," she noted.
"But our support for EFCA is not just based on our long history and alliance with the labor community," she emphasized. "It is also about the rights of LGBT workers who so desperately need the protections that a union can provide. It is currently legal to fire someone in 30 states based on sexual orientation and 38 states based on gender identity; a union contract can provide critical job security for LGBT workers."
Enforced workers rights can help protect workers from discrimination, added Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Job security is vitally important to transgender workers as well as to all others who suffer from employment discrimination. Helping workers to organize will help protect them from bias in the workplace," she stated.
Working people and their unions have led the way on ending job discrimination and fighting for equal benefits, recalled Jon Hoadley, executive director of the Stonewall Democrats. "The Employee Free Choice Act would once again allow workers to freely organize, leading to increased protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. EFCA should be a priority for our community in the upcoming 111th Congress and we will continue our work to make sure that this legislation becomes law," Hoadley added.
The Employee Free Choice Act would stiffen penalties against employers who use illegal threats and harassment to keep workers from joining unions. In addition, the law would eliminate massive federal bureaucracy, which according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, some employers are able to game in order to block workers from forming a union in their workplace.
More than 900,000 people across the country have signed a petition to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. You can sign on here.
