[Peace-discuss] Urbana City Council Approves Resolution in Support of Employee Free Choice Act

[Robert Naiman]

For Immediate Release:                  Contact:        Robert Naiman,
                                                             Central
Illinois Jobs with Justice
Monday, December 15, 2008

Urbana City Council Approves Resolution in Support of Employee Free Choice Act
Firing of Pantagraph Employees in Bloomington, IL, Lockout of Mental
Health Employees in Effingham, IL, Show Need for National Labor Law Reform

     On Monday December 15, the Urbana, IL City Council voted in favor of a
resolution introduced by Alderman Charlie Smyth in support of the
Employee Free Choice Act. The vote was 5-2. Voting yes were: Charlie
Smyth [D-1], David Gehrig [D-2], Robert E. Lewis [D-3], Brandon C.
Bowersox [D-4], and Dennis P. Roberts [D-5]. Voting no were: Heather
D. Stevenson [R-6] and Lynne C. Barnes [D-7].

The Employee Free Choice Act would allow employees covered by the
National Labor Relations Act to form a recognized union when a
majority of workers sign authorization cards. It would increase
penalties on employers for violating labor law, and it would create an
arbitration mechanism to guarantee that employees in form a union can
get a first contract without indefinite delay.

"The action of the Urbana City Council shows that this is an issue of
community concern," said Robert Naiman, a member of Central Illinois
Jobs with Justice, which supported the resolution. "As Alderman Smyth
argued to his fellow council members, workers who want to be
represented by a union have a right to a level playing field, and that
doesn't exist today."

On December 3, the Champaign County Democratic Central Committee
approved a resolution in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

     Recent events in East Central Illinois illustrate the need for labor
law reform:

     - Employees at Heartland Human Services in Effingham, IL, a nonprofit
mental health counseling facility, have been "locked out" - not
allowed to return to work - since they voted in June to end a yearlong
strike. The employees formed a union with AFSCME Council 31 for the
first time in February 2006 and had gone on strike in a dispute that
included issues of pay and time off. They still do not have a
contract, almost three years they formed their union.

     - Attempts by employees of the Pantagraph newspaper in
Bloomington, IL. to gain union presentation underscore why passage of
the Employee Free
Choice Act is needed. Working with the St. Louis Newspaper Guild/CWA,
production workers at the newspaper gathered enough support to
petition the National Labor Relations Board on July 1 for a
representation election. Instead of supporting the democratic process,
the Lee-owned newspaper retained union-busting attorney Michael Zinser
to obstruct it.

     Lee fired two of the union's most ardent supporters. The Guild,
noting that "both of these individuals had performed house calls on
our behalf and had become the face of the Guild with Pantagraph
employees," has filed charges of unfair labor practices on behalf of
both employees. Firing employees for supporting a union is a flagrant
violation of labor law; but current sanctions are so light that many
anti-union employers simply accept them as "a cost of doing business."

Jobs with Justice is a coalition of community, faith-based, labor and
student groups that promotes economic justice and workers' rights.