America’s Building Trades Unions Mount All-Out Lobbying Push for the Employee Free Choice Act

Over 1,000 Building Trades Leaders Descend Upon Capitol Hill to Press Wavering Lawmakers on Critical Labor Bill

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Seeking to ramp up the pressure on wavering lawmakers, delegates to the 2009 Legislative Conference fanned out across Capitol Hill today to lobby members of Congress on the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act, supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would enable all working people, in all industries, to bargain for better benefits, wages and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union. The bill would remove current obstacles to employees who want collective bargaining; guarantee that workers who can choose collective bargaining are able to achieve a contract; and allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

Earlier in the day, delegates heard spirited appeals for action on this critical bill from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), US House Majority Whip James Clyburn and Ed Schultz – host of MSNBC’s “The Ed Show.”

The Other speakers today included Brigadier General Michael Regner and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.

The Building and Construction Trades Department is an alliance of 13 national and international unions that collectively represent 2.5 million skilled craft men and women in the United States and Canada.

SOURCE Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO