Online candlelight vigil to commemorate victims of union violence being held at www.EndUnionViolence.com

Washington, DC (August 30, 2013) – Friday afternoon, Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee, will be making a speech to launch a candlelight vigil commemorating the victims of union violence at the AFL-CIO headquarters located at 815 16th St. NW, Washington, D.C.

The event will take place ‎at 3:30 PM ET.

It will also serve as the kickoff for an online virtual candlelight vigil beginning Friday afternoon and concluding on Labor Day. Those who oppose union violence can go to www.EndUnionViolence.com to light a virtual candle and then sign a petition to their representatives to pass the Freedom from Union Violence Act.

According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR), there have been over 12,000 incidents of union violence reported by American media since 1975. However, studies show 80-90 percent of violent union incidents that get reported to police are never reported in the media.

At the event, Mark Mix will call on Congress to pass the Freedom from Union Violence Act (H.R.2021) introduced in May by Congressman Paul Broun (R-Ga.). The bill seeks to close a loophole in the Hobbs Act after the U.S. Supreme Court infamously ruled in 1973 that union bosses were exempt from federal prosecution for coordinating campaigns of violence and extortion under the Hobbs Act if it was done in pursuit of “legitimate union objectives.”

“For decades, honest men and women, merely trying to work a job and feed their families, have been the victims of union thuggery,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Committee. “As we enter Labor Day weekend, I can think of no better way to spend it than by remembering the suffering of the tens of thousands of victims of Big Labor’s violence and intimidation.”

“Employees who choose not to associate with a union or pay union dues shouldn’t face retaliation for exercising their rights, which is why this legislation is so vital.”

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The National Right to Work Committee, established in 1955, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens’ organization dedicated to the principle that all Americans must have the right to join a union if they choose to, but none should ever be forced to affiliate with a union in order to get or keep a job. Its web address is nrtwc.org.