USW Local 1327 Supporting EFCA Charles Henderson of USW Local 1327 in Ashdown, Arkansas explains what his local is doing to support the Employee Free Choice Act. This local represents paper workers at the paper mill in Ashdown. As Charles puts it in his letter to the Ashdown paper, "A job in the Domtar mill is one of the best jobs in our community, because we can protect our working conditions through our union, the United Steel Workers. Our workforce is stable and the company knows that union employees are committed to producing an excellent product."

 

Unions Helping the Community Employee Free Choice Act school supply drive in Texarkana It is no secret that working families in Texarkana are struggling to make ends meet.  For this reason, area workers and union members held a two week long school supply drive to collect supplies and donate them to some of the hardest hit families in our community.  The school supply drive culminated in a “give away” event on Saturday August 15th and a call to action for America’s middle class.  The school supply drive and give away was accompanied by a renewed call for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, federal legislation that will make it easier for workers to join together and bargain for better lives.  This event was coordinated by Mary Keeton, Women of Steel Chair for USW Local 752L.  A local small business owner, Paul Keener of the Texarkana Community Journal, joined union members and said he believed that this legislation would help uplift working families and benefit small business such as his. Mary Keeton of USW 752L talking about this event.

Thousands March for Free Choice, say it's Civil Rights Issue Nearly 1,500 African-American leaders, union members, community activists and other locals braved nearly 100 degree temperatures to join USW International President Leo W. Gerard, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt-Baker, CNA National President Deborah Buger, CWA Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach, and regional leaders from UFCW, AFGE, CWA, USW. They came in caravans from cities around the state on eight buses and hundreds of cars. Click here for more information on the July 11, 2009, Little Rock event. And click here for more info on the Employee Free Choice Act from USW's Rapid Response. The crowd was upbeat from the beginning of the event at the famous Central High School - the site of one of the most prolific battles in the U.S. civil rights movement. USW International President Leo W. Gerard spoke, urging Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor to support the Free Choice Act, which would give workers - not employers - the power to choose a union and how they want to vote for it ... more  Here is what rally supporters had to say about EFCA.