Letter: Blue Dogs should back union bill

• Published: Sep 7, 2009

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“I don’t see organized labor as part of the problem; to me it’s part of the solution.”

— President Barack Obama

“Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of their right to join the union of their choice.”

— President Dwight D. Eisenhower

This Labor Day 2009, I can think of nothing better that the U.S. Senate could do for working men and women than to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and put it on the president’s desk. This bill makes it easier to join a union and holds corporations accountable for illegally firing an employee for supporting a union in his or her work place.

According to annual reports from the National Labor Relations Board, the number of employer violations were the following:

2003 — 23,144

2004 — 30,784

2005 — 31,358

2006 — 26,824

In 2007 alone, there were 29,559 instances of illegal firings and other employer discrimination against workers for exercising their federally protected labor law rights.

These so-called “Blue Dog Democrats,” who are riding the fence on this issue thinking that they are helping themselves politically, I think are mistaken.

What good is a blue dog if it growls and barks the same bark as a foaming-at-the-mouth, rabies-infected red dog?