Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee
1124 North Broadway
Knoxville, Tennessee 37917
June 9, 2009
Mike Edwards, President and CEO
Knox Area Chamber of Commerce
17 Market Sq # 201
Knoxville, TN 37902
Re: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Campaign against Employee Free Choice
Dear President Edwards,
Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee is an organization that cares about working families and about the availability of good jobs – jobs that allow workers to earn a living wage, to be treated with decency and respect, and to do their part to help rebuild our environment and our economy. We and other allied groups concerned about economic justice have come to your offices today in order to communicate with you about a matter of grave concern.
It has recently come to our attention that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington is now engaged in a virulent campaign against passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a campaign it describes as its “top priority,” and one into which it is pouring millions of dollars. The Employee Free Choice Act would make it possible for workers to join a union with less fear of reprisal and with a greater chance of entering into a long-term collective bargaining relationship with their employer. In our view, a reform like this is long overdue and much needed.
The great right of freedom of association on the job was won by American working people as part of the New Deal at the time of our last great depression. But in the years since, and especially in recent decades, that right has steadily eroded, and the number of people covered by collectively bargained
