Leading Asian Pacific American Groups Support the Employee Free Choice Act

Thursday, May 21, 2009
 

May 21, 2009

For Immediate Release

Contact: Malcolm Amado Uno
Phone: 202-508-3733
Fax: 202-508-3716
Email: muno@apalanet.org
Website: www.apalanet.org

Washington D.C. – A dozen key national Asian Pacific American organizations, representing a wide range of Asian Pacific American communities, pledged their support for the Employee Free Choice Act today in an historic and unified gesture of solidarity.

The Employee Free Choice Act would enable workers to bargain for better benefits, wages and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to form or join a union.

The national Asian Pacific American organizations that have endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act include Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), Asian Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), National Coalition of Asian Pacific Community Development (National CAPACD), Hmong National Development (HND), Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), OCA, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC).

“The Employee Free Choice Act will help Asian Pacific Americans achieve the American Dream by allowing us to fight for fair wages, health care and a voice in the workplace,” said Maria Somma, APALA National President.  “Asian Pacific American workers are struggling to keep up in today’s economy.  Close to ten percent of Asian Pacific Americans live below the poverty line while CEOs earn 340 times as much as an average worker.  The ability to form or join a labor union provides all workers, and particularly low-wage workers, with a pathway to achieve economic prosperity.”  

“OCA understands that the hopes and aspirations of Asian Pacific American workers should include the opportunity to form or join a union,” said George Wu, Executive Director of OCA.  “The Employee Free Choice Act will help to repair broken labor laws and place the decision of how to form or join a union into the hands of workers.”

“As the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in the United States, the Japanese American Citizens League is proud to stand with the broader civil rights community to support giving all workers the free choice of forming or joining a union,” said Floyd Mori, JACL Executive Director.  The Employee Free Choice Act is also supported by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a broad coalition of civil rights organizations.

“Asian Pacific Americans deserve to have a level playing field with employers when they seek the benefits of joining a union,” said Matt Finucane, an APALA Executive Board Member from the National Education Association.  “The Employee Free Choice Act ensures the level playing field that was promised when Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.”