When security guard Richard Ruiz expressed frustration over he and his coworkers' unsuccessful efforts to form a union in their workplace to Miami New Times' blog Riptide, he was simply trying to give a voice to their struggle.

In January, about seventy-five percent of the Security Alliance guards signed cards to form a union with SEIU--but since that time, he and the 50 or so security guards employed by Security Alliance of Florida in the Miami Beach area had been experiencing intimidation, scare tactics and harassment at the hands of their employer for exercising their rights to organize. Ruiz was the only one out of his coworkers who was willing to speak about their efforts to form a union on the record.

His reward for having the courage to speak out for what he believes in? Losing his job. "We are trying to make this city safer for everybody, but I was fired when they found out I was speaking out and wanted a union," said Richard Ruiz, who was terminated after working for more than two years for Security Alliance. "Employers shouldn't stop decent people from trying to have a better life."

Rhonda Woods lives in Paris, Arkansas and until recently worked on a factory floor. When she brought up potentially unsafe working conditions to her boss, she was told:

"If you don't like it, there's the door."

Watch Rhonda talk about her ordeal:

Rhonda and other workers in Arkansas know that the Employee Free Choice Act is the right choice for Arkansas and the country. When passed, the Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to join unions without intimidation, and will punish companies who fight their employees' free choice.

Rhonda's not alone: nine out of ten workers who try to form unions face management harassment and intimidation. Arkansas workers need the Employee Free Choice Act.

If you live in Arkansas, click here to write to Senators Lincoln and Pryor and ask them to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Do you have a story from your workplace to tell? Share it with us here.

Rhonda Woods lives in Paris, Arkansas and until recently worked on a factory floor. When she brought up potentially unsafe working conditions to her boss, she was told:

"If you don't like it, there's the door."

Watch Rhonda talk about her ordeal:

Rhonda and other workers in Arkansas know that the Employee Free Choice Act is the right choice for Arkansas and the country. When passed, the Employee Free Choice Act will allow workers to join unions without intimidation, and will punish companies who fight their employees' free choice.

Rhonda's not alone: nine out of ten workers who try to form unions face management harassment and intimidation. Arkansas workers need the Employee Free Choice Act.

Click here to write to Senators Lincoln and Pryor and ask them to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

April 15 - Evansville - A solid speaking program highlighted 75 plus person rally at the Federal Building. Steve Bottoms, a retired mine worker with three decades of service and current operating engineer, related how the Employee Free Choice Act will improve Indiana's economy. Steve shared a history of some of the local struggles to organize with the status quo and called for Senator Bayh to support the Employee Free Choice Act. County Commissioner Stephen Melcher was on message talking about how important it is for elected officials to act as public servants. The county commission went on to say that elected officials must take the lead on issues that affect their constituents like Employee Free Choice's ability to improve workplace fairness. Brad Riley, an out of work tool and die maker, spoke about working for a non-union shop and the benefits a union would bring, as well as the struggles he's facing now that he's out of work.

Workers were asked to call Sen. Bayh's office to ask for support of the Employee Free Choice Act and we ask that you do the same-- contact Sen. Bayh's office here.

This Sunday, members of five Nebraska unions gathered to present 100 apple pies to their representatives in Congress. Part of Change That Works' "Good Jobs and Affordable Health Care Are as American as Apple Pie" campaign, these pies were much like the ones that have presented individually to public officials and Nebraska opinion leaders over the last several weeks. And, much like the many pies in this campaign that came before them, these pastries came with a clear message attached: the Employee Free Choice Act matters to Nebraskans.

At Sunday's rally, this message was delivered by Doug Wilich, an Omaha truck driver who's experienced firsthand just how unjust our current labor laws can be. His story is alarming but not unique, and I've included just a small slice of it in the video above.

Please take a moment to write Sen. Bennet and tell him to stand up for hard-working Coloradans like us.

This past week, the Employee Free Choice Act came home to Colorado in a way that hadn't been seen before: with a traveling billboard featuring two people whose lives would have been better had the act been in place.

Dan Luevano was an electrician, working hard to support his family. Roberta Ayala taught art and supported non-verbal autistic children at a private school in Denver.

I didn't have a chance to talk to Roberta; I did spend a few minutes talking with Dan, asking him how he came to be one of the faces of the employee free choice movement.

When I started working in nursing homes as a certified nursing assistant, I was excited that I would be doing something I love -- spending quality time with seniors and providing them with the care they need to live their final years with dignity. Unfortunately, that's not how I can describe what I do when I go to work at HCR Manor Care- Easton. I'm constantly running between rooms trying to keep up with my residents' needs, and there are some days when I just can't give them the care that I know they deserve.

Eventually, I got fed up with the short staffing, high turnover and low pay so I started talking to my co-workers about forming a union. I thought that if we were united, we would finally have a voice in the decisions that affected us and our residents. You would think that in America, workers are free to decide for themselves about forming a union; but I can tell you, it's anything but a free choice.

In 2007 alone, more than 29,000 workers were fired or disciplined for union activity. Trisha Miechur, a Certified Nurse Assistant at a ManorCare nursing home in Easton, PA, is one of those workers.

Fed up with the short staffing and high turnover that was affecting the level of patient care in the nursing home, Trish started talking to her coworkers about forming a union. "I thought that if we were united, we would finally have a voice in the decisions that affected us and our residents," writes Miehchur in an op-ed for The Morning Call. "You would think that in America, workers are free to decide for themselves about forming a union; but I can tell you, it's anything but a free choice."

The truth is that companies routinely fire or threaten employees who sign cards calling for union elections. Corporations almost always choose delay tactics that force workers to go through elections that can take months, sometimes years and in 40 percent of cases where an election has been requested, the election isn't even held because of interference from the employer.

Trisha describes the illegal interrogation, threats, and retaliation she suffered at the hands of her ManorCare employers in their attempts to stifle union activity:

While we were trying to form our union, we were repeatedly taken away from our residents to go to meetings with management. ....At one point I was given a final written warning because management accused me of asking residents and family members to sign letters to state legislators about the quality of care at our nursing home. The warning said I was being disloyal and that if my behavior continued, I would be ''subject to termination."

After that, I was scared whenever I walked into work. But I also knew that I was right to stand up for myself and my residents.

In the summer of 2007, Trisha and her coworkers--like other Carlyle-ManorCare workers nationwide--had been struggling to form a union for more than a year. After filing Federal charges against Carlyle-ManorCare, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled nine months later that Manor Care violated the law for threatening Trisha and writing her up. Problem solved, right? Wrong.

On Tuesday, March 31, Hollywood "West Wing" stars Martin Sheen and Bradley Whitford descended upon the nation's Capitol to join workers, union leaders and members of Congress for the unveiling of a new ad and grassroots campaign, "Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act."

The campaign features 50-foot-high banners displayed on buildings throughout Washington, DC, and billboard trucks in states across the country. A different union member is pictured on each banner, accompanied by a quote about why the Employee Free Choice Act is imperative for all workers to restore their freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.

One worker who told her story at today's star-studded event on the Hill was SEIU Local 105 member Roberta Ayala, the "face" adorning the banner splashed across SEIU's building on Massachusetts Ave. Roberta is a teacher's aide at a private organization in Denver, CO and works with teenagers with severe emotional problems, as well as non-verbal autistic children.

"I had always believed a union was the fairest way to work," says Roberta, whose father and grandfather were in unions. "I believed that if we had a union, this unfair treatment wouldn't be happening. I wanted my coworkers to be treated fairly so we could be better advocates for our students," said Roberta, detailing how she and the other employees in her school repeatedly went to management with their concerns on understaffing and increasing safety and training procedures to create a better learning environment for the kids--but were ignored. So they decided to form a union:

Eighty percent us signed cards supporting the union. But the school wouldn't recognize our decision. We filed for an election and that's when management began harassing and intimidating us. They even fired several teachers' assistants--making our staffing problems even worse.

[...] Management continued their intimidation tactics even after we won our election. The facility experienced a 70 percent turnover in staff because of the campaign waged by management...Imagine what it does to developmentally disabled children when they lose 70 percent of their caregivers.

The current system to form a union in the workplace is slanted in favor of employers who too often use harassment and intimidation to stop unions and keep workers from getting a fair deal. "Eighteen months after our election, we finally won our first contract," says Roberta. "We finally won a voice in classroom decisions. But it shouldn't have been this hard to win improvements for our students." Read Roberta's entire story here.

The experiences of workers like Roberta show the necessity of the Employee Free Choice Act. "Without the protections provided by the Employee Free Choice Act, workers looking to join unions are subject to harassment, disinformation, and dismissal, because of a system that is exploited by, and stacked in favor of management," said actor Bradley Whitford, stressing that we must not allow lawmakers to put their own job protection ahead of the protection of their working constituents.

Around the country, activists are gearing up for the April 6-17 congressional recess by planning stepped-up mobilization actions in cities around the country to build support for the Employee Free Choice Act--so stayed turned for details on upcoming actions in the coming week.

To learn more about the "Faces" campaign and see the workers' billboards, visit www.americanrightsatwork.org

The always-entertaining leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, had these words to say about Employee Free Choice today:

"One day, Tony Soprano will walk in with a lead pipe and he will start beating people upside the head to vote to unionize."

Listen below:

In reality, the Employee Free Choice Act is designed to protect workers from intimidation. In 2007 alone, 29,559 workers received backpay from their employers because they were illegally fired or denied work as a result of exercising their federally protected labor law rights.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg. Read more about employer-based intimidation in the workplace here.

With corporate interest groups going on the attack around the Employee Free Choice Act, workers are now speaking out about why they want to join a union and sharing stories about the employer resistance, intimidation and threat of termination they've encountered when trying to organize their workplace. "We are only asking for the right to make the decision about whether or not we want a union," says personal care attendant Paulette Ducre-Howard.

Under the Employee Free Choice Act, the choice of how to form a union, whether by majority sign-up or an election, would be put into the hands of workers--not corporations. With Employee Free Choice, we can rebuild this economy from the bottom up and give workers back the power to negotiate for better wages, benefits and working conditions.

Watch CNAs Trish Mishner and Regina Simmons, security guard Nick Old, and RN Mike Kingsbury sat down to share their stories about why the Employee Free Choice Act matters to them.

SEIU Leader Shares First-hand Experiences Trying to Organize Detroit Fast Food Workers in the 1980s

In 1980, the United Labor Unions set out to organize employees at Detroit fast food chains in the hopes of sparking a nationwide movement to unionize the workforce in this fast-growing industry. As a rookie organizer working on the campaign, I learned firsthand what is at stake when workers stand up for better wages, healthcare, and a voice on the job.

We started with a Burger King franchise in Detroit's Greyhound station. While the drive was a challenge, the spark spread between employees as they encouraged each other to join the union and stand up to their managers. Greyhound Food Management ran a tough campaign to keep workers from organizing -- threatening some, making promises to others -- but didn't succeed. By a margin of just one vote, the Burger King employees opted to create a union.

Encouraged by our victory, we shifted our focus to three McDonald's franchises on Detroit's North Side. The employees were struggling with all kinds of issues -- minimum wage violations, sexual harassment, unfair scheduling, and health and safety issues ranging from grill burns to meat slicer injuries. Fed up and fired up, they decided to organize a union and won overwhelming support from their co-workers. Nothing could stop them.

Or so they thought.

Here's an update from SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger regarding efforts to get our economy back on track.

Big Business is working overtime ... not to help get our troubled economy get back on track, but to prevent American workers from freely being able to join unions and bargain for better wages, health benefits and job security.

We see it with the fifteen year long struggle by workers at Smithfield in North Carolina, who overcame employer threats and intimidation - including illegal firing of union supporters -- and recently voted for a union. And we see it in the latest round of false and misleading advertising, by corporate special interests who want to maintain their power to keep wages and benefits as low as possible by lobbying to stop Congress from passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

To set the record straight, American Rights at Work, a nonprofit advocacy organization, recently launched a series of "Fact Check" print ads which have appeared in The Hill, Roll Call, Politico, and the National Journal' s Daily Congress AM. These ads counter the lies and half-truths with the real facts about how the Employee Free Choice Act is a vital part of rebuilding our country's middle class in order to revitalize our shaken economy.

Here are some of the facts:

• Workers in unions earn 30% higher wages and are 59% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance (www.bls.gov).
• 68% of middle class Americans would like their Members of Congress to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act (www.drummajorinstitute.org).
• During union organizing campaigns, over 94% of employers resist their workers' efforts to form unions, and 25% even fire union supporters (University of Illinois at Chicago).

And to those wondering about big business' alleged concerns about preserving workers' right to a secret ballot, rest easy: The Employee Free Choice Act does NOT eliminate the right to a secret ballot election. What it does is leaves the decision on whether to have an election with the workers, where it belongs.

The ads can be viewed at the links below.

* First ad

* Second Ad

In conjunction with American Rights at Work's Fact Check campaign, SEIU's Change That Works campaign has begun sending email communications to share important information about why the time for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act is now.

Please send this link http://freechoice.seiu.org/page/s/freechoiceupdate to your friends so they can sign up to get the Facts and stay informed about the Employee Free Choice Act.