Labor Leaders Speak Out For Employee Free Choice

AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER) -- A group of lawmakers, labor leaders and workers gathered at the State House to support legislation that would make it easier for people to join a union.

They say a new study shows that a five percent increase in union membership would pump an estimated seventy-seven million dollars into the Maine economy.

"We know this is a tough economy," says the AFL-CIO's Ed Gorman, "but when we went through the Great Depression workers organized and improved their conditions and that's what helped bring us out of the Great Depression."

But the Maine Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the legislation, says increasing union membership is not the answer to a failing economy.

"Growing unions are only as good as there are jobs to grow and unionize. And the fact of the matter in this state is that we're not gaining jobs we're losing jobs," says the Chamber's Peter Gore.