ENDA IS ON LABOR'S RADAR

LOCAL LABOR LEADERS TO CALL ON CONGRESS

posted by Ove Overmyer

Rochester, N.Y.--  The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees.

While current federal law protects working people from firing or penalization based on race, religion, national origin, gender and/or physical ability, there is no federal law to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers from being victimized in the workplace. This means that in 31 states, it is legal to fire someone for being lesbian, gay or bisexual. In 39 states, it is legal to fire someone because they are transgender. 

Right now, initiatives to outlaw such unfair treatment are gaining ground in the union movement.  This includes the AFL-CIO, AFSCME and CSEA.  Along with Pride At Work, a constituency group of the AFL-CIO, all these organizations and many other unions are making unprecedented efforts to support this legislation.

ENDA has been introduced in every Congress, except the 109th, since 1994, albeit without gender identity protections, but gained its best chance at passing after the Democratic Party broke twelve years of Republican Congressional rule in the 2006 midterm elections. However, some sponsors believed that even with a Democratic majority, ENDA did not have enough votes to pass the House of Representatives with transgender inclusion, and dropped it from the bill, which passed and subsequently died in the Senate.

In 2009, on the heels of the 2008 elections that strengthened the Democratic majority, and after the debacle of the 2007 ENDA divisions, only a transgender-inclusive ENDA has been introduced by House representative Barney Frank. President Barack Obama supports the bill's passage unlike his Republican predecessor, who threatened to veto the measure.

In the coming weeks, the fate of ENDA will be decided. Right now there's been a delay in the House of Representatives taking it up in committee, so it's critical that your elected officials hear from you TODAY. We must ensure that all LGBT people are protected from workplace discrimination.

CSEA Local 828 President Bess Watts says, “As a union, it is important that all workers be judged by the work they do not for who they are or what they believe. Employment discrimination of any kind is immoral and denies workers the dignity, respect and equality they deserve in the workplace."

She adds, "In many states you can be fired because of your sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, and this is simply wrong. ENDA should have passed ages ago and in my opinion is long overdue.  We encourage all members to contact their representatives before the Christmas break.”