Asela Espiritu, RN and United Nurses Associations of California/UHCP/AFSCME member, Yorba Linda, CA
Strengthening the economy means restoring the balance of power —and the Employee Free Choice Act will help bring this much-needed balance back to our country. America’s middle class is our economic backbone. If we want to strengthen our economy, we need to strengthen the middle class – and unions are the key. On average, union members earn 28 percent more than non-union members and are 52 percent more likely to have health care.
When people have the power to negotiate wages, benefits and other conditions of work, they raise their status of living and can afford to purchase the goods and services that make our economy hum. When people are powerless in the face of corporate greed – watching their wages get slashed or their jobs get shipped overseas while CEOs reap unprecedented profits – our economy takes a turn for the worse.
It’s no wonder that, with the scales of power so out of whack, our nation today faces the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. But the Employee Free Choice Act will help working families, and our nation, get on the road to economic recovery.
