It is sad and shameful that Republican Senators chose to block the road to the middle class for millions of workers by throwing up procedural barricades from their minority position in Congress. Theirs is a stunt that working men and women will remember when they go to the ballot boxes in 2008, armed with the scorecard filled in by today's vote on the Employee Free Choice Act. The vote made dear exactly who is on the side of working families' dreams and economic opportunity--and who is siding with corporate America to block those opportunities.

Working families come out of this vote with growing momentum. Support is pouring in from working men and women as well as from 16 governors, state legislators and local officials from every state, religious leaders and other allies. AFL-CIO members and their families have made more than 50,000 phone calls, sent 156,000 faxes and emails, and 220,000 postcards on this issue. Fifty-five cities, counties and state legislatures have passed resolutions and 1300 state and local elected officials have pledged support for this legislation.

Americans have seen up dose the terrible price working families are paying for our failure to protect workers' rights. Living standards are failing. Health care and pensions are declining. It is dear that if we are to have a middle class in our country, we have to change the law to guarantee workers the freedom to make their own decision to join a union. The best opportunity for working men and women to get ahead economically is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits.
More than half of U.S. workers-60 million -say they would join a union right now if they could. But the system is so broken that workers cannot exercise their right. It is so broken that last year alone, more than 31,000 workers had their union rights violated by their employer.

But the Senate vote shows the ground has shifted. The status quo of our broken system is unacceptable. Those who continue to support our broken system will find themselves on the wrong side of history. And that battle engages now, as we move into the 2008 elections, when working people will elect more senators and a president who will champion their concerns and fight for their futures.

Tennessee U.S. Senators, Alexander Lamar (R) and Bob Corker VOTED NO on the Employee Free Choice Act, let them know their obstruction is shameful and will be remembered.