Huffington Post: We Fight Inequality by Restoring Freedom to Join Unions

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/12/we-fight-inequality-by-restoring-freedom-to-join-unions/

by James Parks, Mar 12, 2008

Workers across the nation know that CEO pay is skyrocketing while the average worker’s paycheck is falling short of the rising prices of food, housing and gasoline. But our growing inequality threatens more than our middle-class standard of living.

At Huffington Post today, AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff and Sheldon Friedman, research coordinator for the AFL-CIO Voice@Work campaign, say this inequality threatens our democracy as the rich buy more infiuence in political campaigns.

It also weakens the public sector because the extremely wealthy starve public services by opting for private solutions to health care, education and public safety. Pay raises to compensate workers for their increased production now get funneled into compensation to reward excessively well-paid CEOs.

One of the best ways for workers to change this situation and get their fair share of the economic pie is to restore workers’ freedom to form a union. Unions have provided a needed balance in the workplace—and when employers harass and intimidate workers seeking to form unions, Big Business CEOs walk away the economic winners.

The first step in finding a solution should be passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, Acuff and Friedman say.

To rein in extreme economic inequality, therefore, it is imperative that workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain collectively be protected. The Employee Free Choice Act, when passed, will constitute a giant step in that direction.

Click here to read the full post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stewart-acuff/to-reduce-economic-inequa_b_91127.html