The D.C.-based American Rights at Work said Monday that Government figures show that 23,000 U.S. workers are dismissed or discriminated against on the job each year ‘’for exercising their legal rights to form or join a union.’

‘This isn’t happening to strangers,'’ said David Bonior, a former Democratic congressman from Michigan who chairs the board of the nonprofit advocacy group. ‘’These are our nurses, school bus drivers, and favorite grocery store clerks.'’

In a separate report, the group claimed that votes to recognize a union fall short of basic U.S. democratic standards and the yardsticks against which the U.S. government determines whether elections in foreign countries are ‘’free and fair.'’ Employers freely distribute anti-union literature while workers are restricted from openly circulating pro-union literature; employers deny pro-union campaigners essential employee information to which bosses nevertheless enjoy access; and employers and supervisors coerce workers with actual or threatened grants or withdrawals of privileges based upon employees’ position on the union. Additionally, existing labor law allows employers to use lengthy appeals to, in effect, indefinitely block recognition of a union in cases where organizing drives result in a pro-union vote result.

Senator Edward Kennedy, D-MA, Representatives Peter King, R-NY, and George Miller, D-CA have introduced the Employee Free Choice Act which American Rights at Work supports as ‘’a critical first step in stemming the tide of workers’ rights violations.'’

Of course, the U.S. Chamber aggressively opposes the act which, in the present climate is more than enough to ensure it won’t see the light of day, and labor has dropped off the radar screen for many “centrist” Democrats. This would be a good issue for the Green Party to start making noise about.