The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a proposed federal law that would make the process of forming a labor union fairer. Our congressman, Mike Michaud, is for it. But our two U.S. senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, have helped prevent the bill from even coming to a vote. I hope in the coming year they will reconsider their position and allow this important piece of legislation to be voted on by the U.S. Senate.

Many people bemoan the loss of our middle class. One of the reasons for this disappearance is the decline of unions, which traditionally have ensured solid wages and decent benefits for America’s working families. The decline in unions, in turn, can be traced to the increasingly unethical efforts employers have used to prevent unions from being formed in the first place.

Bosses routinely fire union organizers, demote and reassign workers expressing an interest in joining a union, force employees to sit through long anti-union presentations (with no opportunity for rebuttal), lean on workers in one-on-one meetings with supervisors, and threaten to close up shop if a union comes in. EFCA would take employer intimidation out of the process of forming a union, which after all is an organization that belongs to workers.

Sens. Collins and Snowe have a reputation as moderates. It seems to me allowing the Senate to vote on EFCA, a bill of great importance to Maine’s working people, would be a good indication of such moderation.

William Rice
Trenton