Alliance for Worker Freedom kicks out Workers

By Kate Thomas July 28, 2009 Today, several workers went to Capitol Hill to attend a panel discussion about the Employee Free Choice Act, sponsored by the Alliance for Worker Freedom. Much to their dismay, the workers were escorted out of the event after its organizers complained to the Capitol Police. The event was advertised as an information-gathering session for Congressional staffers to discuss the legislation, and have "questions addressed by experts in the field." And for the outside community, "a resource to gather and share information. However, it quickly became evident when the workers were blocked from attending the event that these panelists were probably not going to be educating the room on how we can push for the protection of workers' rights. The event featured speakers from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporate front groups the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and the Workforce Fairness Institute, among others--the same groups and donors that fight against good wages, workplace safety and the ability of workers to form unions in their workplaces. You'd think that a meeting on Employee Free Choice would welcome the perspective of workers whose lives the legislation would most deeply effect -- but ironically, this was not the case. It's pretty ridiculous that an organization called "The Alliance for Worker Freedom" would kick out workers from a Capitol Hill panel discussion and Q&A about the rights and freedoms of workers. Guess a misleading organization name is just one more degenerate attempt by this group to convince people that they're on the side of workers. from SEIU's blog our own Dana Graham was one of those workers kicked out