HM 921

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
4
5	WHEREAS, in 1935, the United States established by law that
6	workers must be free to form unions, and
7	WHEREAS, the freedom to form or join a union is
8	internationally recognized as a fundamental human right by the
9	1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
10	WHEREAS, the freedom to choose to join with others and
11	bargain for better wages and benefits is essential to economic
12	opportunity and an improved standard of living, and
13	WHEREAS, unions benefit communities by strengthening
14	standards of living, stabilizing the tax base, promoting equal
15	treatment, and enhancing civic participation, and
16	WHEREAS, in states where more people are union members,
17	schools are of higher quality and workers receive better wages
18	and benefits, and
19	WHEREAS, union workers earn 29 percent more, are 35 percent
20	more likely to have access to health insurance, and are four
21	times more likely to have access to a guaranteed defined-benefit
22	pension than workers without a union, and
23	WHEREAS, unions help raise workers' pay and narrow the
24	income gap for minorities and women by increasing median weekly
25	earnings of women workers by 31 percent, African-American
26	workers by 31 percent, Latino workers by 50 percent, and Asian-
27	American workers by 9 percent, and
28	WHEREAS, workers have often been denied the freedom to form
29	unions and bargain for a better life, with 25 percent of the
30	nation's private-sector employers having illegally fired at
31	least one worker for union activity during an organizing
32	campaign, and
33	WHEREAS, 77 percent of the public believes that it is
34	important to have strong laws protecting the freedom of workers
35	to make their own decision about having a union, and 58 percent
36	of workers would join a union if given the option, and
37	WHEREAS, employers often do not bargain fairly with workers
38	after a union is formed, and in 45 percent of these cases,
39	first-contract bargaining with the union has dragged out for up
40	to 2 years, and
41	WHEREAS, when the right of workers to form a union is
42	violated, wages fall, income gaps related to race and gender
43	widen, discrimination in the workplace increases, and job-safety
44	standards weaken, and
45	WHEREAS, 78 percent of employers have required that
46	employees attend anti-union meetings, and
47	WHEREAS, each year millions of dollars are spent to
48	frustrate workers' efforts to form unions, and most violations
49	of workers' freedom to choose a union occur behind closed doors,
50	and
51	WHEREAS, a worker's fundamental right to choose a union
52	free from coercion and intimidation is a public issue requiring
53	a public policy solution, including legislative remedies, and
54	WHEREAS, the Employee Free Choice Act has been introduced
55	in the United States Congress in order to restore the freedom of
56	workers to join unions and safeguard the ability of workers to
57	protect their rights, NOW, THEREFORE,
58
59	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
60
61	That the Congress of the United States is urged to enact
62	the Employee Free Choice Act, which contains provisions allowing
63	employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union
64	representation, establishes stronger penalties for violation of
65	employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during
66	first-contract negotiations, and provides for mediation and
67	arbitration of first-contract disputes.
68	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
69	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
70	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
71	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
72	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.