An Open Letter from Pennsylvania Clergy and Religious Leaders
in Support of the Employee Free Choice Act

We, the undersigned religious leaders and representatives of various faith-based organizations, are deeply concerned about the pervasive violation of the rights of working people when they attempt to exercise their basic freedom to form unions and bargain collectively for a better life.
Over the past 30 years, workers’ living standards have declined in well-documented ways – stagnant or low pay, longer hours spent at work, unaffordable or no health care benefits, and unsafe working conditions. An increasing disparity between the very wealthy and the working poor seems to be the hallmark of our time.

Employer violations of workers’ rights are routine and illegal firings of union supporters in labor organizing drives are at epidemic levels. In 2007, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) awarded back pay to 29,559 workers -- or one worker every 18 minutes -- because of illegal employer discrimination against workers who attempted to form unions in their workplaces.

This routine and flagrant violation of workers’ rights has created a climate of fear and intimidation in the workplace. The results are that too many workers do not try to exercise their freedom for fear of losing their jobs.

America’s faith traditions are nearly unanimous in support of the right of workers to organize. Informed by our sacred texts and traditions, our faith communities have issued statements supporting the freedom of workers to organize and collectively bargain in order to secure some measure of the American Dream. As religious leaders, we will continue to advance this message: The right of workers to freely associate and organize their workplaces is required in a democracy, and families and communities are strengthened when workers can bargain for fair wages, adequate benefits, and safe working conditions.

Therefore, we, as leaders of faith communities that represent a broad spectrum of U.S. religious life, call upon Senator Arlen Specter to strongly support the Employee Free Choice Act.