America's working families are struggling to make ends meet and our middle class is disappearing.  To get ahead, working people need the freedom to choose for themselves whether to join together in unions to bargain for better wages. 

More than half of America's working people, 57 million, say they would join a union right ow if they could.  But employers routinely block their ability to make this decision for themselves. 

• Only 38 percent of the public say their families are getting ahead financially and less than a quarter believe the next generation will be better off.
• Workers who belong to unions earn 29 percent more than nonunion workers.
• Workers who belong to unions are 62 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and four times more likely to have pensions.
• One out of five activists who try to form unions are fired. 
• 78 percent of private employers require supervisors to deliver anti-union messages to the workers whose jobs and pay they control.
• Half threaten to shut down partially or totally if employees join together in a union. 
• Even after workers successfully form a union, employers often never negotiate a contract. 

A number of responsible major companies, such as Cingular Wireless, already agree to recognize a union when a majority of employees sign up.  These responsible employers recognize that this is a free and fair way to assess workers' choice - and it results in less conflict between employers and employees.

All working people need the Employee Free Choice Act - America's workers deserve the freedom to decide for themselves whether to come together in unions and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions.  If the law is changed to allow more workers to make their own decision, more of America's workers will be able to work together to ensure fair treatment on the job and improve their standard of living.