American Rights at Work

The Benefits of Unions in Arkansas (CEPR) (PDF )
The Benefits of Unions in Colorado (CEPR) (PDF )
The Benefits of Unions in Louisiana (CEPR) (PDF )
The Benefits of Unions in North Dakota (CEPR) (PDF)
The Benefits of Unions in Ohio (CEPR) (PDF)
The Benefits of Unions in Pennsylvania (CEPR) (PDF)�

Polling

Public Opinion Regarding The Employee Free Choice Act, National Survey Results (1/8/09) (PDF)
Results From A Survey Among Voters in Senate Battleground States (11/5/08) (PDF)
The American Dream and the 2008 Election (11/6/08) (PDF)

Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0100

� See these workers and their stories
� Take action: Share their stories with Congress

Taking the Fight to the Chamber of Commerce

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:12:10 +0100

What do small business owners, unions, and progressive leaders have in common? An agenda for justice that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending lots of money to derail!

So at the Chamber's conference in Philadelphia, over 100 local business owners and citizens from a wide range of groups (Health Care for America Now PA, Greenpeace, MoveOn, SEIU, Sierra Club, UFCW Local 1776, Change to Win, IBT, USW, Clean Energy Works, and more) turned out to make sure the business leaders attending the conference heard from them.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a major force against the Employee Free Choice Act, but more and more responsible businesses are standing up and saying the Chamber doesn't stand for them.� Do you agree?�

� Take our "Not My Chamber" pledge!

2009: Business Leaders for a Fair Economy

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0100

As corporate CEOs continued their assault on the Employee Free Choice Act, a diverse and courageous group decided it was time to take a stand. Over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners formed Business Leaders for a Fair Economy to demonstrate their support for policies that strengthen the middle class and ultimately benefit American employers.

2009: Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford are accomplished actors, with extensive credits in film, television, and theater. In Washington, DC, both men are most known, loved, and respected for their work in the Bartlett Administration. Schiff and Whitford won Emmys for their inspiring performances as Toby Ziegler and Josh Lyman on The West Wing. However, we are honoring them for their real-life roles in advancing workers’ rights, lending their voices and passion for social justice to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

2009: John J. Sweeney

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0100

John J. Sweeney has spent decades advocating for workers’ rights, most recently serving for 14 years as president of the AFL-CIO. His leadership helped grow union membership and expand the dialogue on issues affecting working families.

American Rights at Work Names Kimberly Freeman Brown Executive Director

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Kimberly Freeman Brown has been chosen as our new Executive Director. Through her background rooted in progressive causes, Kim brings a wealth of experience and accomplishment to her new role.

Kim’s tenure with American Rights at Work began when she was recruited as its founding Communications Director. She helped raise the organization’s profile from an unknown entity to a trusted voice on labor issues. In 2007, she moved up to become Deputy Director.

Before joining American Rights at Work, Kim served as the Communications Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial and as an organizer and communications strategist to organizations like the Children’s Defense Fund and the Peace Development Fund.

Our new Executive Director brings new energy and a fresh vision to American Rights at Work. She will be a valuable asset to the labor community and others who share our commitment to achieving workers’ rights. We hope you get the opportunity to congratulate Kim at our annual Awards Celebration on November 18.

� Read the press release.
�
��Read Kim's extended bio.

ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers' Rights

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0100

When unscrupulous employers fail to uphold labor standards for certain groups of workers, like undocumented immigrants, all U.S. workers suffer the consequences. By driving down labor standards to the lowest common denominator, it becomes harder to enforce laws and standards even for native-born workers.

In this report we focus on the balance between the DOL's need to protect workers' rights and ICE's mandate to enforce immigration laws. We examine how ICE's failure to fully participate in this balancing act has contributed to the creation of perverse incentives against complying with fair wage and hour laws, OSHA requirements, and labor laws that protect collective bargaining rights.

This report includes several case studies that illuminate the multiple ways ICE and the DOL could partner with each other and with other agencies to raise the floor on core labor standards.

� Press release
��Download report (PDF)

Immigration Study Finds Enforcement Has Undermined Workers' Rights

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0100

� Labor Groups Issue Blueprint to Restore Balance Between Immigration Enforcement and Labor Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 27, 2009

CONTACT:
Devon Whitham
AFL-CIO
(202) 637-5018

Josh Goldstein
American Rights at Work
(202) 822-2127 x118

Tim Bradley
National Employment Law Project
(314) 440-9936

WASHINGTON, DC—A comprehensive report issued today by the AFL-CIO, American Rights at Work and the National Employment Law Project finds that the federal government’s immigration enforcement in recent years – including a heavy reliance on raids and often inadequately trained enforcement agents – has severely undermined efforts to protect workers’ rights, to the detriment of immigrant and native-born workers alike. Drawing on several case studies from across the country, the report offers an unprecedented analysis of how the division between labor and immigration enforcement has eroded, and a blueprint for how the new administration and federal agencies can restore the balance. The authors, joined by a group of affected immigrant workers, presented their findings and recommendations today at a conference at AFL-CIO headquarters.

“The balance between worksite immigration enforcement and labor standards enforcement must be recalibrated,” argued co-author Rebecca Smith of the National Employment Law Project.� “ICE’s failure to uphold the firewall between enforcement of immigration laws and enforcement of labor laws has undercut both policies. Employers have been encouraged to violate wage and hour laws, OSHA requirements, and labor laws that protect collective bargaining rights.� All workers, both immigrant and native born, are suffering from depressed core labor standards as a result.”

ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights builds on a growing body of research that points to a decline in workplace protections – and details how the� dramatic increase in immigration enforcement agents, arrests and prosecutions of immigrants in the U.S. has repeatedly taken precedence over labor law enforcement.� Drawing on case studies from across the country – including California, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, Iowa, Rhode Island, Florida and Oregon – the report examines a series of alarming incidents between 2005 and 2008 in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, has: ��

taken enforcement action at the behest of employers, their surrogates, and other police agencies;
conducted immigration-focused surveillance in the midst of labor disputes;
conducted enforcement action with full knowledge of an ongoing labor dispute;
engaged in subterfuge to carry out enforcement actions; and
directly interfered with the administration of justice by arresting workers on the courthouse steps.�

In 2008, the report notes, ICE made 6,287 (5,184 administrative; 1,103 criminal) arrests for immigration offenses at workplaces, and only a small fraction of its arrests (2.1 percent) were of employers or employers’ agents. In August 2009, ICE reported having enrolled 63 agencies and trained 840 officers in a program to assist in identifying undocumented immigrants. However, the GAO recently criticized ICE for inadequate oversight and training under the program, and it has frequently been cited as contributing to racial profiling.

“Focusing on raids and other types of immigration enforcement without regard to enforcement of labor and employment laws does not address what is really sustaining illegal immigration—the virtually unfettered ability of employers to exploit immigrant workers economically,” said Ana Avenda�o of the AFL-CIO organization, a co-author of the report.

In 1998, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the then-named U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS, now ICE) and the U.S. Department of Labor established a firewall between immigration and labor law enforcement, with the purpose of reducing economic incentives for hiring unauthorized workers, limiting abusive treatment of workers, and promoting jobs for legal, authorized U.S. workers.

The MOU provides guidelines for when cooperation between workplace and immigration enforcement agencies is appropriate, and when it is not. For example, when workers complain about wage and hour violations, the MOU stipulates that DOL should not conduct reviews of work authorizations or inquire about the immigration status of complainants.

“Simply put, there needs to be a better balance of communication between immigration and labor agencies, and it starts with heeding the policy that already exists, but is being ignored. There is a serious impact for the economy and for workers – both native and immigrant – when immigration enforcement overshadows the equally important goal of protecting labor rights,” co-author Julie Martinez Ortega of American Rights at Work said.

At today’s conference Josue Diaz, an immigrant worker who was recruited from a day laborer corner in New Orleans to work on reconstruction efforts in Texas after Hurricanes Ike, shared his personal story.� “We were forced to live in tents in an isolated labor camp at an abandoned oil refinery.� We were made to work in toxic conditions without safety equipment.� We were subjected racist and dehumanizing treatment…When we protested the discrimination and illegal treatment, our employer…called local police and ICE.�� We were arrested immediately.� Instead of enforcing our labor rights against the company, the police and ICE tried to turn us into criminals.”

For a full copy of the report, and the authors’ specific recommendations for the Obama administration and several federal agencies on how to restore the proper balance between immigration and labor law enforcement, click here.

Tell Giumarra to stop the abuse in California's grape fields!

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:04:34 +0100

It's hard to imagine this kind of abuse still happens in 2009.� Forcing farmworkers to "race" and see who can pick the most grapes in searing 100-degree heat, and then firing the "losers." Screaming at workers and forcing them to take unpaid "time-outs" if they dare to question supervisors. Insane quotas, giving workers no time for water, shade, or breaks.

But this is standard operating procedure at Giumarra Vineyards Corporation – a leading grape company.� Giumarra's workers urgently need your help to make the abuses stop.

� Demand better of Giumarra: tell them to put an end to worker abuse now! �

Voices Lifted in Support of the Employee Free Choice Act

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:00:00 +0100

On September 10th, we brought 300 people who support the Employee Free Choice Act – including small business owners, farmers, clergy, and civil rights leaders – to Washington DC. And we backed them up with events in dozens of cities across the country and thousands of phone calls from online activists.� Here are a few highlights in their own words:

North Carolina delegate: "I'd like to thank you and all of the other organizers and leaders of the Employee Free Choice Act Lobby Day for a great day of action. Meeting other advocates and having an opportunity to state our perspective on a long overdue and critical piece of legislation to our elected representatives was highly motivating."

Maine delegate: "The trip was a great opportunity to not only voice my concern about labor issues, but also to be part of something so large and so important for our country."

Delaware delegate: “My first thoughts were, "What the heck am I here for, and what does it have to do with the services that we provide?" Being first timers, my wife and I really didn't know what to expect. It didn't take very long to find out that the answer was EVERYTHING! – especially recounting the many benefits that the UNION has provided me and my family seen before my birth.”

Wisconsin delegate: “Workers’ rights is such a worthy cause and seeing and meeting so many people rallying for the same thing was beautiful. Hearing all of the stories that were being told by the people from so many different walks of life....I just thank you for the opportunity. It was a real learning experience. I am happy to help in any way that I can in the future.”

Honor the real "Norma Rae"

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:00:00 +0100

In 1973, Crystal Lee Sutton couldn't take it anymore. She turned off her machine, climbed onto her work table, wrote the word "UNION" on a big piece of cardboard, and raised it for all to see. Before the police could drag her away, she had brought her textile factory to a standstill – and helped give her coworkers the courage to form a union. Her story became the basis for the Oscar-winning 1979 movie, "Norma Rae."

Ms. Sutton's struggle as a mother of three – earning $2.65 an hour and working in appalling conditions – led her to take a stand and help organize a union in her plant. Like countless workers who try to join a union today, she was met with threats, harassment, and was ultimately fired from her job.

Crystal Lee Sutton – the real "Norma Rae" – passed away just recently.� In her memory, will you send an eCard to Congress asking them to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in 2009?

� Send your card to Congress now.

2009 Awards Celebration

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:52:00 +0100

On November 18, friends of the American Rights at Work Education Fund gathered together at our fifth annual Awards Celebration to celebrate and recognize remarkable honorees from the labor, business, and political activist communities. In a room filled with human rights, civil rights, faith, environmental justice, student, arts, and labor leaders, we saw just how committed our broad array of progressive partners are to protecting workers’ rights to form unions.

� Read more

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

American Rights at Work Applauds New Labor Movement Leadership at AFL-CIO

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:23:29 +0100

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2009

CONTACT:
Josh Goldstein
American Rights at Work
202-822-2127 x118

A new generation of leadership for America’s labor movement begins today. Following the election of Richard Trumka to succeed John J. Sweeney as President of the AFL-CIO, American Rights at Work leaders released the following statements.

David Bonior, Chair: “In AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, America's workers have a champion with the expertise, vision, tenacity, and passion to make real change for real men and women. President Trumka, Executive Vice President Arlene Holt-Baker, and Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler are the right leaders at the right time. We look forward to working with them to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and on other efforts to make the American Dream a reality for more working people.”

Kimberly Freeman, Acting Executive Director: “We’re excited to work side-by-side with a new, diverse leadership team. The face of the labor movement is changing and I am encouraged by the plans these new labor leaders have to help us make unions more relevant and accessible to today’s modern workforce.”

During his tenure at the AFL-CIO and throughout his entire career, John J. Sweeney has remained dedicated to improving the lives of working Americans. Sweeney helped lay the groundwork for passing what will be the biggest labor law reform in nearly a century through the Employee Free Choice Act. He will continue serving on the Board of Directors of American Rights at Work and investing in a future where workers’ rights are guaranteed and protected in America.

Employee Free Choice Act Coalition Supporters Swarm Capitol Hill

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:49:24 +0100

Yesterday’s exciting Employee Free Choice Act Coalition Lobby Day reinforced the crucial role our progressive partners are playing as we work to pass meaningful labor law reform this year. More than 300 small business owners, veterans, farmers, students, faith leaders, civil rights activists, women’s advocates, and environmentalists took to Capitol Hill to tell more than 100 of their Congressional leaders why the Employee Free Choice Act is important to them.

The delegates came from 101 cities in 15 states, and represented more than two dozen organizations.� More than 80 organizations supported the day of action with calls, emails, press releases, and their continued backing of workers, their unions, and the need for labor law reform.

Congressional staff members have heard from labor and business about the Employee Free Choice Act, but they were genuinely surprised to find large groups of constituents from non-labor organizations knocking on their door to remind them why this bill is vital to our economy and to our values as a nation. Our citizen lobbyists pressed them to continue making the Employee Free Choice Act a priority, echoing what they heard from new HELP Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Harkin in the morning.

In all the excitement – and thankfully, lack of rain – we were reminded why so many people from so many walks of life are coming together to lend their voice to this cause. The participants spoke passionately about the role of the Employee Free Choice Act in bringing economic justice to our country and why they were coming to talk about the need for labor law reform.

� See more pictures of the lobby day.
� Watch a video of the lobby day by Sum of Change.

Allies from Around the Country on Capitol Hill for the Employee Free Choice Act

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:38:08 +0100

More than 300 activists from 15 states are on Capitol Hill today to tell their elected leaders that workers need and deserve meaningful labor law reform. The diverse group of small business owners, veterans, farmers, students, faith leaders, civil rights activists, women’s advocates, and environmentalists�are uniting�in one voice to remind lawmakers why the Employee Free Choice Act is vital to rebuilding our economy.

� Read more