He described “an attack on the middle class” that has been underway since the Reagan administration, which focused on weakening government, reducing or not enforcing regulations, and stripping workers of political and economic power. In a slide presentation, he showed that “wages have flatlined” while productivity increased. He noted a “growing inequality of wealth” as executive pay has dramatically increased but workers pay has not. He noted “declining public services” and less effective “safety net” programs. “It’s no coincidence that when Republicans have been in office we’ve seen average household income decrease, and when Democrats are in office we’ve seen it go up,” he noted.

Saavedra showed that membership has helped union workers during this period. “Unions raise income and reduce inequality across the board,” he said. Union members make, on average, more than 30 percent more than non-members, and among Hispanics, the difference is 51 percent. “No one should be making 50 percent less than their counterparts because they’re not a member of a union,” he said. Sixty-nine percent of union workers have a guaranteed pension, while only 14 percent of non-union workers have one, he reported. And “stronger union states have higher household incomes, lower rates of poverty and a lower rate of people uninsured for health care,” he noted.

Even so, the Republican war on unions has helped reduce union membership in the U.S. It has dropped each year for about 30 years, and is now only 12.4 percent of the workforce.

Though “60 million Americans would join a union if they could,” Saavedra said, “the current system for forming a union is completely broken.” EFCA reforms that system and gives control to workers instead of employers.

Saavedra offered several examples of how, under the current rules, workers had struggled for years with employers to first get a vote establishing a union, then get a contract, and finally put the contract in effect. Employers have developed strategies to intimidate workers, dismiss them, or endlessly delay the union ratification process. “Forty-four percent of workers” who want a union “never get to vote,” he reported.

EFCA changes the rules. It allows workers to form a union by signing cards in addition to voting. It provides for a much faster process, reducing the time employers have for “coercion and harassment.” It introduces “meaningful penalties” to deter illegal acts by employers, with fines of up to $20,000 per incident.

The measure passed the U.S. House in 2007 but was stopped in the Senate by a Republican filibuster, Saavedra said. It has been re-introduced, with 223 Representatives and 40 Senators co-sponsoring, he said.

Oddly, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who co-sponsored the bill in 2007, has declined to do so in 2009. Saavedra passed out sheets of blank paper and asked EDC members and friends to write Sen. Feinstein on the spot to encourage her to support EFCA. Approximately 15 letters were written at the meeting. He said the effort has resulted in more than 1,700 letters and the campaign continues.

If you missed the meeting and would like to write Senator Feinstein, you can find a sample letter at www.unionyes.org/sample . Send the letter to Anthony Saavedra, San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, 3717 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, CA 92108. He will add your letter to the hundreds of others that have been written and forward them as a group to the Senator’s office.

More information on EFCA is available at www.employeefreechoiceact.org