Barbara Mikulski: “as a U.S. Senator, I am fighting for jobs today and jobs tomorrow. Unions play a vital role in ensuring safe and fair…”

“as a U.S. Senator, I am fighting for jobs today and jobs tomorrow. Unions play a vital role in ensuring safe and fair working conditions. That is why I support the right to form and join unions and I will continue to fight to preserve the rights of workers. It is time to get behind the working people's agenda. That is why I am proud to stand with the labor movement. I wear the union label on my clothes, on my heart, and on the floor of the Senate. I am proud of union members. You all work hard. You work three shifts: one at your jobs to make a living, then with your family to make that living worthwhile, and a third with your union to make a difference. I know the importance of unions, and that is why I am an original cosponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act. With union membership at its lowest point in more than 60 years, this bill takes several steps to make it easier to unionize without employer coercion. Workers understand the benefits of joining a union--53 percent say they could join one today if they could. But the right to organize is deliberately denied by many employers. Unions raise wages, improve working conditions, and ensure fair treatment on the job. In many jobs they make the difference between living in poverty and making ends meet or the difference between just getting by and making enough to make a better life for a family.”