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News Release

NEW RULING UNDERMINES ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR WORKERS

Philadelphia (October 6) - The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization with a long history of supporting labor rights, deplores the recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which will deny union protection to millions of American workers.

In its October 3 decision in the Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. case, the labor board allows employers to reclassify many workers as "supervisors," thus denying them the right to be represented by unions. More than eight million workers and over 200 occupations could be affected, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

"This ruling represents a serious effort to undermine economic security for American workers," said Joyce Miller, AFSC assistant general secretary for justice and human rights. "Fair wages and the right to form and join a union are keys to achieving that security."

AFSC is a cofounder of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, a growing faith/labor/community coalition which will hold hundreds of rallies, religious services and prayer breakfasts in October to build support for raising the minimum wage.

In their dissent regarding the Oakwood case, two NLRB members warned: "Today's decision threatens to create a new class of workers under Federal labor law: workers who have neither the genuine prerogatives of management, nor the statutory rights of ordinary employees. In that category may fall most professionals (among many other workers) who by 2012 could number almost 34 million, accounting for 23.3 percent of the workforce."

The Service Committee has a long and rich history of supporting justice for coal miners, farm workers, maquila workers and others, dating to the 1920s. AFSC has also recently partnered with workers' organizations to promote just federal budget priorities and to oppose the privatization of Social Security.

According to Rick Wilson, director of the AFSC West Virginia Economic Justice Project, "The labor movement has been vital to the preservation and extension of democracy to millions of workers. Attacking the right to organize not only harms those who are poor, it strikes a blow at middle-class Americans in a time of growing inequality."

Wilson noted that union members generally enjoy higher wages (28.1%) and total compensation (43.7%) than non-union workers. They are more likely to be covered by health insurance and pensions and to have time off for paid vacations.

According to the AFL-CIO, under the Bush administration the NLRB has chipped away at workers' rights, limiting the eligibility of disabled workers, teaching assistants, temporary workers and others to join unions.

"One of the key concerns of the American Friends Service Committee is the need to promote human rights and dignity in the context of the global economy," noted Joyce Miller. "This can't be done in the United States or anywhere without a free labor movement."

For more information on the October Living Wage Days, visit www.letjusticeroll.org.

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

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