SEIU members, community leaders and supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act rallied in San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento and Santa Rosa yesterday, arguing that a real economic stimulus package for California should make it easier for workers who want a union at work to have one. The events unveiled a new report from the Center for American Progress detailing how allowing workers more freedom to form unions would benefit California workers - and the state's economy. In California, wages for unionized workers were 12.7 percent higher--$2.74 dollars more per hour--than non-union workers with similar jobs during a four-year period between 2004 and 2007.

If unionization rates increased by just 5 percentage points from current levels, California workers would earn an estimated $3.7 billion more in wages per year. "Talk about a stimulus package?" commented Chris Benner, professor of regional economic development at UC Davis and SEIU ally, "This is close to $4 billion of added spending power in California!" States with low levels of unionization experienced almost twice as much job growth between 2001 and 2006 as those states with higher levels of unionization, according to a white paper published last year by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to community leaders and experts, workers who belong to unions and or would like to join one shared their experiences about the benefits of unionization and the current obstacles in the way of workers. Members from SEIU Local 521 and Local 1021 also took part in yesterday's events advocating for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Michael Allen, NBLC President and District Director for State Senator Patricia Wiggins addressed the crowd and said, "The Employee Free Choice Act will give America’s working families a fighting chance for dignity and improved wages and benefits. President Obama supports this legislation as part of the economic recovery package that will lift workers out of the economic stagnation that is destroying our middle class. EFCA also gives hope to the working poor who have not received their fair share in an economy that rewards only the rich and powerful, while dooming workers to debt slavery, and decreased opportunities for improving their lives. Corporate fat cats have used hostile labor laws to increase income inequality, and to deny workers the equalizer of democratic self help unions which will restore bargaining power for individual workers."

Joining a union is not only good for individual workers but it is good for the economy as a whole. As the national focus begins to shift from passage of the Economic Recovery Act to securing long-term solutions for rebuilding the middle class, it's not hard to see why workers want to join unions--wages go up, benefits go up, and working conditions improve.