Student week of action promotes Employee Free Choice nationwide

Original source:

This past week, students across the country mobilized to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in the Student Labor Action Project’s annual Student Labor Week of Action.

The Week of Action commemorates the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez and their efforts on behalf of dignity and justice for workers. Student organizations taking part included United Students Against Sweatshops and the United States Student Association.

In 28 states and the District of Columbia, hundreds of students from dozens of campuses held rallies, community service days, petition drives, educational forums and other public events to promote workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain and to mobilize for a fair economy.

In Chicago, students protested outside the local Chamber of Commerce asking them to stop the disinformation campaign against Employee Free Choice. In Orlando, students from the University of Central Florida rallied to protest corporate anti-Employee Free Choice Act training. The AFL-CIO’s Stewart Acuff joined students at Colorado University’s Boulder campus for a town hall meeting on Employee Free Choice. From Maine to Los Angeles, students got the word out about the need to protect workers’ freedom to form unions.

In addition to backing the Employee Free Choice Act, these student actions promoted social justice locally, including advocating for fair wages and working conditions for workers on campus. And Jobs with Justice (JwJ) built on the student efforts with a national “Resistance and Recovery” week of action to keep the momentum going forward in support of the freedom to form unions and an economy that works for everyone.

These students are part of the broad coalition of community groups that are mobilizing in support of passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.