BILL REQ. #: H-3827.2
State of Washington | 58th Legislature | 2004 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/20/2004. 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 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 show that forty-two 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 1998, as many as twenty-four 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;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the United
States Congress protect worker rights by enacting the Employee Free
Choice Act of 2003, S. 1925 or H.R. 3619, or substantially similar
legislation.
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.