Civil rights groups to push for ‘card check’ on anniversary of MLK death

by Michael O'Brien - 04/01/09 10:59 AM ET

Civil rights groups will use tomorrow’s anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. to push for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or “card check”).

Civil rights groups will host a conference call Thursday at 12:00 p.m. featuring the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and its director, Wade Henderson, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous, and National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Executive Director and CEO Melanie L. Campbell.

“Dr. King was assassinated helping to lead a struggle of sanitation workers to win the freedom to form a union and bargain collectively with their employer,” said a LCCR release on the call. “The struggle of those workers continues today as Congress works to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to improve the lives of working men and women regardless of race, color or creed.”

“The secret ballot has been a pillar in our democracy and has ensured that Americans can vote without fear of intimidation or reprisal,” said one conservative opponent of EFCA. “From a historical perspective, it