SF 543

1st Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A resolution
memorializing Congress to support the Employee Free Choice Act relating to workers'
rights to form and join unions.

WHEREAS, in 1935, the United States established, by law, that workers must be free
to form unions; and

WHEREAS, the freedom to form or join a union is internationally recognized by the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a fundamental human right; and

WHEREAS, the free choice to join with others and bargain for better wages and benefits is
essential to economic opportunity and good living standards; and

WHEREAS, unions benefit communities by strengthening living standards, stabilizing tax
bases, promoting equal treatment, and enhancing civic participation; and

WHEREAS, union workers receive better wages and benefits, with union workers earning
29 percent more than workers without a union, 35 percent are more likely to have health
insurance, and they are four times more likely to have a guaranteed defined-benefit pension; and

WHEREAS, unions help raise workers' pay and narrow the income gap for minorities and
women by increasing median weekly earnings by 31 percent for union women workers, 31
percent for African-American workers, 50 percent for Latino workers, and nine percent for
Asian-American workers; and

WHEREAS, when the right of workers to form a union is violated, wages fall, race and
gender pay gaps widen, workplace discrimination increases, and job safety standards disappear;
and

WHEREAS, a worker's fundamental right to choose a union free from coercion and
intimidation is a public issue that requires public policy solutions, including legislative remedies;
and

WHEREAS, the Employee Free Choice Act has been introduced in the United States
Congress in order to restore workers' freedom to join a union; and

WHEREAS, the Employee Free Choice Act will safeguard workers' ability to make their
own decisions on joining a union without coercion, provide for first contract mediation and
arbitration, and establish meaningful penalties when employers violate workers' rights; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Minnesota supports the Employee Free
Choice Act which would authorize the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union as
the bargaining representative when a majority of employees voluntarily sign authorizations
designating that union to represent them; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Minnesota supports the Employee Free Choice
Act which would provide for first contract mediation and arbitration of a first contract; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Minnesota supports the Employee Free Choice
Act to establish meaningful penalties for violations of a worker's freedom to choose a union;
NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges, the President
and the Congress of the United States to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to protect and
preserve for America's workers their freedom to choose whether or not to form a union.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is
directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United
States, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk
of the United States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions, the chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, and
Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress so that they may be informed of the stand
of the Minnesota Legislature in this matter.