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Over the past eight years, we have seen the middle class deteriorate as Big Business and their lobbyists were given free rein on George W. Bush's watch. Workers’ rights were thrown out the window, and companies did their best to intimidate or terminate any employees who even uttered the word "union.”  The Employee Free Choice Act is the legislation that can turn the system around.

Don't believe the lies of Big Business. Corporate America wants you to believe the Employee Free Choice Act will do away with the secret ballot. Not true. What the legislation does is to put that decision back in the hands of workers. The Employee Free Choice Act would level the playing field and ensure that workers' freedom to choose whether to join a union is protected by doing the following:

• Allowing workers to form a union if a majority of them signs cards.

• Providing for first contract mediation and arbitration so that workers get their first collective bargaining agreement in a timely manner, free from stalling and delay tactics by employers.

• Providing stiffer penalties for employers that violate workers' rights and retaliate against those who are trying to form unions.

Studies have shown that more than 60 million workers across the country would join a union if they could do so free from intimidation. Unions allow workers to collectively bargain for those things that every worker deserves – decent wages, affordable health care, and safety in the workplace. In fact, workers who belong to unions earn 30 percent more than non-union workers and are 63 percent more likely to have employer-provided health care.  It is time that American workers truly have a voice at work and that freedom of choice in the workplace is protected.

The Teamsters are working hard to pass this legislation.  Teamsters across the country have been writing letters, making phone calls, and participating in rallies, press conferences, and worksite visits to spread the word and let Congress, especially the Senate, know we need the Employee Free Choice Act.  We ask you to join in the fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act because every working American should have the right to become part of a union.