When members of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield show up for their annual meeting in Springfield this week, they’ll find some surprise visitors waiting for them: local labor activists and their supporters.
The activists will be there to ask the regional Chamber to disassociate itself from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act. The national Chamber is reportedly spending $20 million to defeat EFCA, which would make it easier for workers to form labor unions. Under the proposed law, workers would only have to collect signed cards from a majority of employees to form a union; currently, unless an employer voluntarily recognizes a union, the workers have to vote in a National Labor Relations Board election. It’s during the weeks leading up to those elections, union activists say, that employers rev up their anti-union campaigns, which can involve threats and intimidation tactics.
The U.S. Chamber—which prefers to call EFCA “the Card Check bill”—says the bill is an attempt by “big unions” to reverse the trend of declining union membership. The bill, the Chamber contends on its website, “would restrict workers’ rights, do away with secret ballot elections in union certification campaigns, and transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in mandatory union dues from workers’ pockets into the hands of union executives. Card Check is a power grab by union management, which wants a free hand to pressure workers into union ranks without the protection of the secret ballot.”
In Massachusetts, a coalition of labor groups, including Western Mass. Jobs With Justice, has declared June 11 a day of action against the Chamber’s position. On that day, the ACCGS—which counts as members about 1,600 local businesses—will hold its annual meeting at the Springfield Marriott, at 2 Boland Way, starting at 11:30 a.m. When members arrive, they’ll be greeted by a picket line of EFCA supporters, who will ask them to break with the U.S. Chamber’s position, or at least declare neutrality on the issue.
“Can you imagine [ACCGS President] Russ Denver … or any CEO agreeing to work without a contract guaranteeing pay and benefits? It would never happen. But when employers prevent a union from forming, that’s exactly what they’re making employees do: work without a contract,” Western Mass. Jobs With Justice wrote in a message seeking supporters to join the picket line. “All workers—not just CEOs—deserve fair wages, decent benefits, and safe working conditions—but without a contract, many will never get them. That’s why we need the Employee Free Choice Act.
“But the Chamber of Commerce wants the status quo, so that employers can threaten and intimidate and fire workers who want to form unions,” the message continued. “We must publicly demonstrate and remind decision-makers of the broad support that exists for the fundamental principles of the Employee Free Choice Act.”
For more information on the demonstration, call 413-827-0301, or email wmjwj@wmjwj.org.
