Arkansas Senator Joins List of Employee Free Choice Supporters

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/04/19/arkansas-senator-joins-list-of-employee-free-choice-supporters/

by James Parks, Apr 19, 2008

The momentum for restoring workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain continues to grow. Now we can add the name of Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) to the list of Senate supporters. At the Arkansas AFL-CIO’s special convention late last month, Pryor announced to some 150 delegates he will vote for the Employee Free Choice Act when it comes to the Senate floor.

Now that they have Pryor’s commitment to vote for the bill, the working people of the state are focusing their efforts on the state’s other senator, Blanche Lincoln (D), says state federation President Alan Hughes.


Sen. Mark Pryor, right, with Arkansas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Ricky Belk


Workers are holding rallies across the state, especially in areas where Lincoln is speaking, Hughes says, carrying signs urging her to vote for the bill. Union members also have penned more than 300 hand-written letters asking Lincoln to vote for the bill.

The Natural State’s workers are committed to getting the Employee Free Choice Act passed, Hughes says, because it’s a law that would benefit workers, their families and their communities.

We all know our children and a lot of family members will be working in these jobs and we don’t want them to have to go through what we had to with employers intimidating them. This is a right-to-work state and it’s already hard enough to form a union.

In states with “right-to-work” for less laws, average pay for workers is 15 percent less than in states where workers have rights to collectively bargain contracts (including wages and benefits).

FULL story at link.