Dear Rena,
Today, Dec. 10, is International Human Rights Day. The day commemorates the 1948 signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “Everyone has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”
Unfortunately, here in the United States, this fundamental human right is under attack. The freedom to form a union to bargain for a better life is an internationally recognized human right, yet workers in America are denied that right each and every day.
To address this issue, leaders of union movements from 63 countries–representing 166 million workers worldwide–are gathering this week in Washington, D.C., for the first-ever global organizing forum. They'll discuss how best to uphold workers' rights to form unions worldwide, including here in the United States.
Click here to tell your senators to fight to restore these rights and pass the Employee Free Choice Act:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/3pqNgjS1cu9_/
The International Labor Organization has said the United States is out of compliance with internationally recognized workers' rights standards.
Our system has to be changed to give all working people the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union and bargain for better wages and benefits.
The Employee Free Choice Act would do just that. No single piece of legislation will do more to lift the middle class and create the America that everyone deserves.
The campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act won't end until we have restored to U.S. workers the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively for a better life. The fight is on, and we will keep going until we win.
Click here to remind your senators: Working families need the Employee Free Choice Act:
http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/3pqNgjS1cu9_/
In solidarity,
Working Families e-Activist Network
Here's the letter you'll be sending if you click through:
The right to form a union is one of the basic human rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Right.
Representatives of four-fifths of United Nations member countries ratified this Declaration on Dec. 10, 1948. This day is now known as International Human Rights Day.
As the Declaration says, “Everyone has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”
Yet here in the U.S., workers have fewer rights than workers in any other industrialized country.
We need the Employee Free Choice Act to restore the freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.
I urge you and your Senate colleagues to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
America's working people are struggling to make ends meet, and our middle class is disappearing.
The best opportunity many workers have to get ahead economically is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
But every day, corporations intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire people who try to organize unions and bargain. This is an urgent crisis, blocking our free will and our ability to get ahead.
Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act would give workers greater freedom to decide whether to join a union and bargain with employers.
Please support this important legislation. With it, America's middle class can begin to rebuild.
Learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act.