Senator John Kerry writes an op-ed this weekend in The Herald News on the Employee Free Choice Act; legislation he has strongly supported since 2007. He begins his opinion piece with a strong defense of unions and their value to the US economy, while adding in a full frontal assault on the Big Business interests that are actively trying to
prevent American workers from having rights and prosperity.

"Workers in unions earn 30 percent higher wages on average, and are 60 percent more likely to have employer-covered health insurance. The question is what we will do to empower workers in this new century -- and it should begin with The Employee Free Choice Act's common sense, fundamentally fair mission of making it easier for men and women to join a union in their workplace.

[...] "Powerful, entrenched opponents of the legislation have made a variety of false statements, arguing that the bill will take away workers' right to a secret ballot election, expose workers to intimidation and harassment or hurt the economy. These arguments are untrue and especially dubious because they have no reliable data to back them up. Too often, these objections come from the same people and groups that have enriched and protected Wall Street over Main Street -- among them those who opposed ideas like minimum wage increases and family medical leave, which history has proven are mainstream, commonsense policies."

There is a great editorial in The New York Times today on unions and the Obama Administration's commitment to labor--giving basically a full-throated endorsement of the Employee Free Choice Act and why it is such an important part of an economic recovery program.

Employee Free Choice legislation:

"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 argument against unions -- that they unduly burden employers with unreasonable demands -- is one that corporate America makes in good times and bad, so the recession by itself is not an excuse to avoid pushing the bill next year. The real issue is whether enhanced unionizing would worsen the recession, and there is no evidence that it would...Without a united front, workers will have even less bargaining power in the recession than they had during the growth years of this decade, when they largely failed to get raises even as productivity and profits soared."

"If Mr. Obama's campaign promises are to be kept, that mindset cannot prevail again. Mr. Obama's creation of a task force on middle-class issues, to be led by Vice President-elect Joseph Biden and including Ms. Solis and other high-ranking officials, is an encouraging sign that labor issues will not be given short shrift."

The announcement of Representative Hilda Solis as President-elect Obama's Secretary of Labor is great news for America's workers. Solis comes from a union family and has never forgotten her roots in her public service career. Her appointment is a win for the prospects of the Employee Free Choice Act and the economic future for the people of this country who get up and go to work every day.

As you can see from the video above, Rep. Solis was a strong advocate for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the House in 2007. But she didn't stop her advocacy when she left the floor of Congress on March 1, 2007. The next day she penned a blog post for Huffington Post explaining why the Employee Free Choice Act is so important for our economy.

Unions are vital to the health and strength of our communities, and our workers are the bedrock of our economy. Unionized workers earn 30 percent more than non-unionized workers, and 80 percent have health insurance, as opposed to just 49 percent of non-union workers. In this day and age when the number of women and new immigrants in the work force is increasing, it is important that they become a part of the American fabric. One of the ways to ensure that these new workers are skilled and valued members of the work force is to join a union.

When union workers earn higher wages to support their families, that income helps to strengthen their community. It helps to provide a vibrant economy. It helps to send their children, like me, a daughter of immigrants and a union household, to college and to eventually run for office. This is the American Dream. We should realize that dream by supporting workers and signing the Employee Free Choice Act into law, and I will continue to champion increased wages, right and protections for working families in the 110th Congress.

While working hard for American families in-session, Rep. Solis has made her progressive views on labor and workers' rights a centerpiece of her campaigns to represent California's 32nd District. Her campaign website included a detailed agenda for how Rep. Solis has fought and will continue to fight for America's workers. Here's just a brief look at how Hilda Solis is defending rights at work:

Hilda staunchly supports strong protections for all employees in their places of work. In Congress, she tirelessly defends the 40-hour work week and overtime pay requirements against the constant attacks by the corporate wing of the Republican Party. She was proud to vote with her Democratic colleagues in the House to pass a federal minimum wage increase for working families in the first 100 hours of the new Democratic majority.

One's place of employment must be a safe and healthy place to work. Hilda supports legislation that strengthens existing standards for working conditions and advocates for additional funding for the U.S. Department of Labor to combat poor working environments.