WHEREAS:

Experience in both the public and private sectors demonstrates that the protection of the right of employees to organize, bargain collectively, and participate through labor organizations of their own choosing in decisions which affect them:

1. safeguards the public interest;

2. contributes towards excellence in services, improvement in efficiency, and the creation of high performance workplaces by fostering the implementation of modern and progressive work practices; and

3. encourages the amicable settlement of disputes between employees and their employers; and

WHEREAS:

The right to union representation and collective bargaining is a basic human right. Free trade unions were instrumental in the fall of Communism in Eastern Bloc nations and the development of democratic governments throughout the world; and

WHEREAS:

Public employees in many states are still denied the basic rights and protections gained by private sector workers under the National Labor Relations Act over sixty years ago; and

WHEREAS:

Only twenty-three states have passed comprehensive public sector labor relations laws extending collective bargaining to all public employees at the state and local level. Thirteen states have no state legislation for any bargaining whatsoever. In the remaining states, the picture is mixed, with certain groups of public workers having full bargaining rights and others very limited or no rights to bargain with their employers; and

WHEREAS:

Over two million federal employees are denied the right to collective bargaining over many basic issues although the Clinton Administration, by Executive Order, has substantially broadened the scope of labor-management negotiations; and

WHEREAS:

The recent report of the Secretary of Labor's Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government Through Labor-Management Cooperation states that all public employees should have the right to choose union representation and further found that collective bargaining is the most effective basis on which employee involvement in decision making can be established. The report cites many examples where the collective bargaining relationship is producing superior service results and cost effectiveness; and

WHEREAS:

Meaningful collective bargaining can only take place in a framework that provides public employees with a legal method to resolve impasses, such as the right to strike and engage in other concerted activities or, in the alternative, the right to submit bargaining impasses to some form of binding dispute resolution mechanism such as interest arbitration; and

WHEREAS:

The United States Supreme Court has established that federal collective bargaining legislation, providing state and local government employees the basic rights already enjoyed by their brothers and sisters in the private sector, would be constitutional; and

WHEREAS:

Legislation has been introduced, H.R. 1484, by Congressman Kildee, which would provide collective bargaining to state and local law enforcement officers.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME reaffirms its support for federal legislation to establish the right of all public employees to organize and bargain collectively over wages, hours, and other conditions of employment through representatives of their own choosing; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That until such federal legislation is enacted, AFSCME will continue to work in individual state and local jurisdictions to achieve legislation giving public workers full rights and protections to organize and bargain collectively, including the legal right to strike and engage in other concerted activity or access to an alternative binding dispute resolution procedure; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will fight any attempts to diminish existing collective bargaining rights, will work to preserve these hard-won rights for our members, and will fight to restore these rights wherever they have been taken away; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME International (1) goes on record favoring prompt enactment of H.R. 1484; (2) urges every member of Congress to sponsor such legislation and vote for its enactment; and (3) urges support for such legislation from President Clinton; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME supports enactment of legislation to codify the provisions of Executive Order 12871 and otherwise expand the scope of bargaining in the federal sector.

SUBMITTED BY:

Michael D. Murphy, President and Delegate
Robert W. Lyons, Executive Director and Delegate
AFSCME Council 40
Wisconsin

Gary Waterhouse, President and Delegate
Curtis Searle, Secretary
AFSCME Council 15
Connecticut

Susan Tyma, President and Delegate
Mike Krois-Giocondo, Secretary and Delegate
AFSCME Local 3506, Council 31
Illinois