Today is a monumental day for workers across this country.  For the first time ever, a majority of Senators voted today to protect a worker’s voice on the job. The 51-48 vote marks the Senate’s greatest support ever for the Employee Free Choice Act.

While today’s action was 9 votes short of ending debate and proceeding to a vote on the legislation, make no mistake about it: a majority of Senators have sent a strong message that they support workers’ freedom to choose to have a voice at work, free from intimidation and harassment.

The Employee Free Choice Act is meant to protect workers like Juan Carlos Cardenas. Cardenas worked as a Physical Therapy Assistant at Pan American Hospital in Miami for more than ten years before he was illegally fired for joining with his coworkers to win better health care for his family and improve quality care for his patients.

Cardenas’ family was forced to get by for nearly 15 months on less than half their normal income before a judge ruled he could return to work.  Workers at Pan American who didn’t lose their jobs were harassed, intimidated, and threatened with termination by managers.

Workers like Juan Carlos must have the freedom to choose to form a union without the fear of reprisals.  This historic vote is proof that momentum is building to win real change for America’s workers.  Today’s vote is a step forward to creating a new American Dream for working people.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Politics, Labor .