Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds today proudly accepted the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU supports overturning Virginia’s Right to Work law, a crucial part of Virginia’s pro-jobs economic environment. In the SEIU’s candidate survey the union asked:
“Virginia’s so-called ‘Right to Work’ law does not guarantee any rights. In fact, by weakening unions and collective bargaining, ‘Right to Work” lowers wages for all Virginians, endangers safety and health standards that protect workers, destroys job security, and prevents Virginia’s working families from earning health insurance benefits. Do you support a path to overturn the so-called ‘Right to Work’ laws?”
The SEIU demands that candidates who seek their endorsement commit to helping workers unionize. In the SEIU’s candidate survey the union asked:
“If elected, will you publicly support workers who are forming unions by reaffirming the importance of unions to our communities and by taking actions such as contacting employers and urging them not to interfere with employee free choice, issuing public statements, honoring picket lines, attending rallies, sponsoring public forums, and otherwise supporting union organizing?”
The SEIU’s top priority nationally is passage of Card Check legislation that would take away workers’ basic right to a secret ballot in workplace union organizing elections, inject federal arbitrators into contract negotiations, and, according to independent analysts, destroy jobs.
http://www.seiu.org/employeefreechoice/
The SEIU recently used Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act to harvest personal information on 6600 personal-care workers who do contract work with the state government in order to encourage them to unionize.
In Creigh Deeds the SEIU has the “Pro-Union Candidate They have Been Waiting For.”
Creigh Deeds has consistently refused to oppose Card Check legislation:
Creigh Deeds has joined union picket lines:
http://anonymousisawoman.blogspot.com/2009/01/marching-in-official-inaugural-picket.html
Creigh Deeds’s support for Big Labor’s agenda has earned him a lifetime AFL-CIO rating of 92 percent.
(Virginia AFL-CIO Website, www.va.aflcio.org)
Creigh Deeds promised national unions that, “When I’m Governor, you won’t just have a friend in Richmond-you’ll have a partner.”
