July marks the 70th Anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act -- commonly known as the Wagner Act -- which supposedly guarantees working people the chance to form unions freely. This landmark legislation enshrined in law the fundamental principle that American workers had the freedom to decide for themselves whether they wanted a union without any employer interference or intimidation.

Yet today, abuse of workers’ rights is so rampant in the U.S. that we’ve made it on the radar of Human Rights Watch, an internationally recognized organization that monitors basic human rights.  They say it’s so bad for workers in this country that we’re out of compliance with fundamental human rights norms.

Unfortunately, employers routinely violate workers’ freedom to choose a union, and the laws are too weak to stop them. 

Nationwide, more than 57 million workers in America say they would form a union tomorrow to improve their lives. However, employers like do just about anything to stop them. For example, 95 percent of employers try to stop their workers from forming a union, and a quarter illegally fire workers, according to Cornell University researcher Kate Bronfenbrenner.

In fact, more than 20,000 workers were fired or discriminated against in 2004 alone for exercising their right to freedom of association in the workplace, according to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) annual reports. That amounts to a worker in this country being fired or discriminated against every 23 minutes for trying to exercise this basic human right. 

That is why organized labor is speaking out to urge lawmakers to support the Employee Free Choice Act. This bi-partisan federal legislation would ensure that when a majority of employees in a workplace decides to form a union, they can do so without the grueling obstacles employers now use to block workers’ free choice. 

U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Representatives George Miller (D-CA) and Peter King (R-NY) introduced this legislation into the 109th Congress.  We are urging our entire congressional delegation to sign onto this crucial legislation.  To date, both of Washington's Senators and every Democratic Representative to the House has co-sponsored the EFCA, but Washington's three Republican Representatives have not.

When employers violate the right of workers to form a union, everyone suffers.  Our basic constitutional freedoms are compromised.  Wages fall, race and gender pay gaps widen, and workplace discrimination increases and job safety standards disappear.  Unions are the best tool we have for fighting poverty and bringing about social justice.

As we commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Wagner Act, it is time that elected leaders on both sides of the aisle come together to find real solutions that ensure workers actually receive the protection that the authors of this legislation originally intended. It's also time for Americans to stand up and demand that all employers respect the legal rights of their employees, the freedom of association and the right to join a union.