March 16, 2009

The Employee Free Choice Act is introduced in Congress. The opposition's disingenous spin tactics are flooding the airwaves, as part of a $300 million Corporate effort to keep their strangle hold on the broken NLRB election system.

Last week, the United States Congress introduced the Employee Free Choice Act in both the US House and Senate, after the Senate HELP committee (Health,Education,Labor & Pensions) held a hearing with two panels testifying to the merits of the Act. Alaska was represented as IBEW 1547 apprentice llineman Deb Kelly was one of four workers nationwide who testified on what being in a union has meant to her. Go to www.employeefreechoice.typepad.com/ak/ to see the testimony. We at the Alaska AFL-CIO encourage rank and file members to support this legislation by writing letters to the editors of your local newspapers, responding to anti-union bloggers at the Anchorage Daily News at www.adn.com and at the Fairbanks Daily News Miner at www.newsminer.com .

But most importantly, contact Sen. Lisa Murkowski through her Alaska or Washington DC offices to encourage her support. Her contact info is available at www.murkowski.senate.gov and thank Sen. Mark Begich for his continued support of this critical legislation to restore America's middle class. Sen. Begich's contact info is available via www.begich.senate.gov And while you are at it, remember Congressman Young who has supported this legislation from the beginning and continues to do so despite pressure from the business community.

Welcome to the official website of the Alaska AFL-CIO, serving Alaska's working families

The Alaska AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations) is the largest labor organization of the last frontier. A state federation of the AFL-CIO, the Alaska federation is a voluntary non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and strengthening the rights and conditions of working Alaskans and their families.

Widely considered to be the "voice of labor" in our state, the Alaska, AFL-CIO represents and provides services for dozens of local unions and trade councils throughout the state of Alaska. Our core programs are legislative advocacy, political action, communications and media relations, and assistance with organizing campaigns.

The purpose of our website is to be the one place our members and all working Alaskans can visit to find the latest on issues affecting working Alaskans and to offer the most efficient connection to a world of information from the struggles of our forefathers to the latest news, and ways to be informed to connect to our legislators both in Juneau and in Washington DC.

Vince Beltrami Executive President	Bruce Ludwig Secretary-Treasurer	Megan Collie Office Manager