A group of Arkansas professors have written a petition to Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, expressing their support of the Employee Free Choice Act. The letter addressed to the Senators, urges them both to take a second look at the Employee Free Choice Act and recognize the benefit for Arkansas working families and the economy at whole.

They clearly breakdown what the Employee Free Choice Act legislation would mean:

If we want to attract industries to and also promote good living standards in Arkansas, we need to support workers' rights to decide whether they want a union, and, if they do, there must be guidelines guaranteeing a first contract. The Employee Free Choice Act specifically addresses these two issues in a reasonable manner.

First, if workers wish to unionize, they will have a choice of two methods to gain certification: presenting the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) with a majority of signed cards signaling majority support, or requesting that the NLRB hold a secret-ballot election. In either scenario it is the workers who choose, not the employer (who currently may contest the validity of the cards, demand an election, and file procedural objections, all of which delays the process and undermines the workers' choice).

Second, once a union has been certified, the two sides must bargain a first contract within a timely fashion or the government will appoint an independent arbitration board whose members will resolve the dispute and produce a two-year agreement. Under the current system, while both sides are required to "bargain in good faith," there is no mechanism to ensure a first contract, and many employers simply refuse to reach agreement with their unionized workers.

The professors argue that supporting the Employee Free Choice Act supports our democracy:

We in Arkansas need to move toward an economy with high educational levels and high creativity levels. Freedom of workers and professionals to participate actively in their workplaces, to speak freely, and to join unions will produce a stronger economy and a more democratic state.

Arkansas and the country will benefit if we return to a labor-relations model that respects workers' rights to choose a union and encourages collective bargaining once they have done so. With our current economic crisis, it is now more urgent than ever that we look for ways forward that place well-paid people alongside corporate profits as indicators of economic prosperity. The Employee Free Choice Act will do just that by promoting an orderly path to greater workplace fairness and decent standards. We urge you to support this bill in its current form, and we look forward to its enactment in the near future.

Read the entire petition letter here:

The Change that Works campaign in Arkansas is organizing community members from Little Rock to the Delta to pass the Employee Free Choice. Join us to fight for a better quality of life for Arkansas working families.