Edwards Statement On Senate Failure To Pass The Employee Free Choice Act

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Senator John Edwards released the following statement today following the U.S. Senate's failure to pass the Employee Free Choice Act:

"Union membership can be the difference between a poverty-wage job and middle-class security. This was probably the single most important vote on the future of the middle class cast in the Senate this year. Millions of Americans want and deserve what unions provide: health care, a secure retirement and job stability. However, businesses regularly and illegally fight union organizing drives.

"Today, a majority of the Senate stood up to make it easier for workers to join a union. A minority of senators showed which side they are on by blocking the bill today -- but they won't be able to block it forever. When I'm president, we will have strong, fair labor laws. If a Republican can join the Republican Party by signing their name to a card, any worker in America ought to be able to join a union by doing exactly the same thing."