Last Saturday, Sen. Michael Bennet met and spoke with nurses, security officers, janitors, and other union members from across Colorado at a townhall meeting about the Employee Free Choice Act and the immediate need for health care reform. It was the largest community group Sen. Bennet had spoken to since being appointed as Senator. Colorado workers gathered at the Denver headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to hear new Colorado Senator Michael Bennet talk about the prospects for health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Senator Bennet heard from many of the people who've made this state great, and responded to their concerns in the video above.

The conversation was frank. Workers came away from talking with the senator knowing that, despite the fact that he hasn't taken a position on the Employee Free Choice Act, he was committed to the basic principles underlying the act, and that when it came to health care reform, every man, woman, and child should have affordable health care.

Despite the good exchange of views, the job is not yet finished. You can join our campaign to make rebuild an economy that works for everyone here, and you can invite your friends here.

The New York Times hit the nail on the head when it called for swift passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. In thoughtful analysis of workers' role in an economic recovery, The Times wrote:

The measure is vital legislation and should not be postponed. Even modest increases in the share of the unionized labor force push wages upward, because nonunion workplaces must keep up with unionized ones that collectively bargain for increases. By giving employees a bigger say in compensation issues, unions also help to establish corporate norms, the absence of which has contributed to unjustifiable disparities between executive pay and rank-and-file pay.

The Times understands that ensuring workers have the freedom to form unions is vital to rebuilding our middle class. Workers in unions earn 30 percent higher wages and are 59 percent more likely to have employer provided health coverage.

President-elect Obama and the new Congress should act with urgency to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure that workers, and not just CEOs, can benefit from the economic progress they help create.

Read the full editorial here.

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