George,

[Letter sent to members of the Living Wage email lists]

I wanted to bring up for discussion two current issues which on the national and state level is highly related to living wage.

The Employee free choice act is currently being considered by Congress, and President Obama has already indicated his willingness to sign such a bill. The act is intended to protect employees who want to unionize their work place. Under the terms of the of the national labor relations act it is quite easy for an employer to prevent unionization by firing or otherwise harassing workers who initiate a drive to unionize their work place.

This is not an abstract concept or hypotheti cal situation, only a few years ago UVa fired a service employee for wearing a pro-living wage button and despite some bad press did so with impunity. The anti-union/pro-exploitation right has reacted to the potential passing of this act by portraying it as an infringement of workers rights, claiming it negates a secret ballot and renaming it the card check act. Already anti-union “consultation” firms such as the labor relations institute are developing tactics to smash union attempts to organize under the EFCA.

Within Virginia Del. Chris Saxman has responded by a proposal to embed Right to Work into the Virginia's 233 year old bill of rights. Saxman's proposal has been passed by the Virginia House of Delegates 55 – 43 and needs to pass again next year and be approved by referendum in 2010. Del. Saxman's proposal and Virginia's history as an anti-union state promise to propel Virginia into a central battleground arena for a right wing-offensive against the EFCA and it seems to be an issue important for the living wage movement to be ready to address. I'd like to see this issue discussed in a future meeting, at least on an informational bases.

Spot (Electronic mail, March 2, 2009)