AFL-CIO: Prosperity requires stronger labor laws

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.peoplesworld.org/afl-cio-prosperity-requires-stronger-labor-laws/

"America desperately needs a reinvigorated middle class and an economy where dignity and opportunity are rights shared by all and where workers are our economy's most valuable assets," the council said in urging policymakers to adopt its recommendations. "But this vision will remain unfulfilled so long as the right to organize and bargain collectively remains an empty promise for most American workers."

Though the fed highlighted Hacker's support for workers' rights, it actually is only a small part - less than half a page - of his comprehensive plan. He mentions the Employee Free Choice Act, labor's top - but now-dead - legislative cause, which would help level the playing field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining.

"Fundamental labor law reform legislation is needed to give employees a fair shot at obtaining workplace representation," Hacker writes. He then advocates stronger penalties against labor law-breakers, which are also included in the EFCA.

The U.S. also needs "a more comprehensive legal regime to support collective bargaining," Hacker writes. U.S. labor law and subsequent court rulings exclude millions of workers from protection, including farm workers, lower-level supervisors, domestic and home health care workers and many government workers.