Al Franken Joins Senate, Co-Sponsors Employee Free Choice Act

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Hundreds of cheering labor activists enthusiastically welcomed freshly-minted U.S. Senator Al Franken (r) to the AFL-CIO Tuesday night, where he announced that his first act after being sworn in earlier that day had been to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act. Franken, a strong supporter of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain, said his membership in four unions — AFTRA, SAG, WGAE and DGA — gave him, wife Franni and his family the opportunities that all working families deserve. “Because of my membership in those unions, Franni and I had health care during the campaign,”Franken said. “Because of my membership in those unions, we have a pension. We need to level the playing field. Unions built the middle class in this country, but we’ve seen the playing field become a steep hill. We’ve seen a great risk shift in this country.”- based on Seth Michaels’ report on the AFL-CIO Now blog; click here for complete story. - photo by Joe Kekeris