Corporations are not the workers' friend

My son is looking for work. He is trying to join a union, but the competition for the jobs is fierce. The only available jobs are low wage, box store jobs with meager benefits and security.

This is not the America that I envisioned living in after serving my country.

For veterans, the news isn't any better. According to a report by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 18 percent of veterans recently back from tours of duty are unemployed. And of those who are employed, 25 percent earn less than $21,840 a year. That is wrong. Veterans have sacrificed too much to be left in the cold.

These negative trends are the result of corporate America's assault on working people. Corporations have actively eroded the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain together with their companies for fair wages, better benefits and job security. This fleecing of America cannot continue unchecked.

When workers try to form unions, employers routinely harass, intimidate and even fire them. Unless we restore the ability of working people to have a voice on the job and to bargain for fair wages and better benefits, the middle class will continue to shrink.

That's why I support the Employee Free Choice Act -- legislation that will let workers and employers come together around the bargaining table and find common ground. Instead of being forced to go through a company-controlled balloting process, workers can choose to form a union when a simple majority of them at their workplace sign their names indicating they want one.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce presents the issue as an assault on small business. It is hypocritical for the Chamber, however, to spend so much money fighting the Employee Free Choice Act, using small business as its focus point. If the Chamber of Commerce is so concerned about small business, it should seek legislation to adjust federal labor law's definition of small business. Basically, a small business is defined as one having $50,000 for nonretail and $500,000 in gross receipts for retail operations.

This provision was written in 1959 and has not been adjusted since. If the Chamber of Commerce were truly representing "small business," this figure would be adjusted to today's dollars, which would exclude the "small business" from organizing concerns.

It is even more hypocritical for major businesses to claim they are concerned about secret ballot elections when they spend $300 million a year on breaking unions.

When I signed my enlistment papers, my signature was my pledge to "solemnly swear to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic." I did not realize that big business was the domestic enemy of working people. I do now.

I knew what I was doing when I signed my enlistment papers. If my signature was good enough for my country, my signature should be good enough for my government and my employer to honor my desire to join a union.

Workers who are in a union are far more likely to earn a living wage and are 52 percent more likely to have health care. When working people make enough to sustain their family, stay healthy and send their kids to school, we all share in the benefits and our communities are strengthened.

Whether or not we're veterans, we all need to change our economy so that it works for working people. Let's hold corporations accountable. Let's pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Dorsey Roland served 16 years in the U.S. Army and lives in Eagle River.