So far, 217 U.S. representatives and 44 senators have signed on as co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act, introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) in November. The proposed legislation, S. 1925 and H.R. 3619, would allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation, provide mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes and establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union.

Recent polls show some 45 million workers would join a union tomorrow if they had the chance, but few are able to exercise this fundamental freedom because employers routinely create barriers to thwart workers’ choice. To ensure workers who want a union are free to form one, the union movement is mobilizing behind the legislation to make the freedom to join unions a key issue in the 2004 elections and a top priority for the next Congress and the winner of the presidential election.

Besides the members of Congress, dozens of academics, Nobel Prize winners, civil and human rights, religious and progressive organizations support the Employee Free Choice Act.

• 44 senators and 217 representatives in the 109th Congress
  • Tell your members of Congress to support workers' freedom to form unions and bargain for better lives.
• Nobel Prize Winners
• Academics
  • Andrew Kersten: Investigate the NLRB
  • Harley Shaiken: Labor Board Leaves Workers in Twilight Zone
• Organizations that support the Employee Free Choice Act (PDF)