Labor Updates (6/27/07)

REPUBLICANS BLOCK FREE CHOICE: A group of Republicans denied workers a free choice to join a union Tuesday, when the 51-48 Senate vote in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act fell nine short of the sixty votes needed to vote on the full bill. Both Maryland Senators Barbara Milkulski (D-MD) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Virginia Senator James Webb (D-VA) voted to approve the measure. Virginia Senator John Warner (R-VA) voted against the bill. "Senators Milkulski, Cardin, and Webb have once again stood up for metro-area working families," said Metro Council President Jos Williams. "The Senate vote shows the ground has shifted," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "The status quo of our broken system is unacceptable.  Those who continue to support our broken system will find themselves on the wrong side of history.  And that battle engages now, as we move into the 2008 elections, when working people will elect more senators and a president who will champion their concerns and fight for their futures." June rally for Employee Free Choice Act, photo by Andy Richards