BILL REQ. #:  H-3339.2 

Read first time 01/19/2006.   Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, giving private sector employees the right to form unions and bargain collectively with their employers; and
     WHEREAS, In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes Article 23, providing for worker rights to just and favorable conditions of work and to form and join trade unions for the protection of worker interests; and
     WHEREAS, Worker rights to form and join unions are increasingly eroded in the United States, according to the 2000 Human Rights Watch Report, by the failure of federal labor laws to provide adequate, timely, and just remedies for violations; and
     WHEREAS, Surveys of workers completed in February 2005 show that fifty-seven million nonunion workers would like to join a union, these same surveys cite employer union avoidance tactics as the principal reason that workers who say they want a union do not have a union; and
     WHEREAS, In 2003, more than twenty-three thousand workers won compensation after being fired or punished for union activity, an illegal act that may occur in at least twenty-five percent of union organizing drives; and
     WHEREAS, Federal law allows employers to refuse to recognize a union even when all of its employees have signed union authorization cards and even though most employers who used neutrality agreements or card check agreements report that the agreements resulted in improved relations with the union and more resources devoted to other business goals; and
     WHEREAS, Even after workers vote to have a union, delays in reaching an initial contract can deny workers the benefit of collective bargaining, a situation that may occur in nearly one-third of negotiations for initial contracts; and
     WHEREAS, Federal law provides no effective remedy for the failure of an employer to bargain in good faith, since such a charge is difficult to prove and typically will not be resolved in the courts for several years; and
     WHEREAS, Unions in the public sector covering federal workers are also in the public interest because they cause wages and living standards to rise and they can safely monitor the federal government, protecting the interests of taxpayers and clients alike; and
     WHEREAS, The proposed personnel regulations at the Department of Homeland Security and the proposed National Security Personnel System at the Department of Defense threaten to remove fundamental collective bargaining rights and protections provided by federal sector unions; and
     WHEREAS, Public services will suffer as a result of public servants feeling less able to come forward to expose public waste, fraud, and abuse that harms taxpayers and clients;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the United States Congress protect worker rights by enacting the Employee Free Choice Act, S. 842 or H.R. 1696, or substantially similar legislation and by opposing the National Security Personnel System and similar personnel regulations proposed for federal civilian workers at the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.