Resolution No: 78 34th International Convention June 26 - 30, 2000 Philadelphia, PA

WHEREAS:

AFSCME represents over 1.3 million members in thousands of bargaining units across the United States; and

WHEREAS:

Many workers are denied the benefits of AFSCME representation yet work alongside AFSCME members or are employed by the same employers or do similar work in the same communities as AFSCME members; and

WHEREAS:

The rise of non-union, private providers of public services is eroding general labor standards and is limiting the union's presence and bargaining power in local labor markets; and

WHEREAS:

An important issue facing AFSCME is how we use our existing power and relationships to increase our ability to organize new members and gain more bargaining and political power; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME affiliates have demonstrated that the inclusion of employer neutrality and card check recognition language significantly increases our ability to organize new workers by overcoming employer interference with the free choice of workers; and

WHEREAS:

Our ability to secure neutrality and card check agreements increases as the proportion of organized workers in an employer's workforce increases; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME affiliates have effectively utilized successorship language to "follow the work" in cases of contracting out, privatization, and sale of employer operations; and

WHEREAS:

Rank and file AFSCME members have shown themselves to be among the most effective, articulate, and dedicated organizers in the labor movement.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That all AFSCME affiliates evaluate their opportunities to organize unrepresented workers of employers with which we have collective bargaining agreements and to develop a plan to win contract language for employer neutrality and card check recognition; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That each affiliate devise a "bargaining to organize" strategy that includes:

• Building a broad consensus among leaders, members and staff through sustained education and members' mobilization that "bargaining to organize" be a priority in negotiations.

• Proposing contract language covering such issues as access to information on the names and locations of unrepresented employees; access to employer premises; employer neutrality commitments; card check recognition procedures; liberal leave with and without pay for member activists; accretion; and successorship.

• Researching employers to uncover points of leverage to win "bargaining to organize language" at the bargaining table by reaching out to allies in the community, exercising economic power, and otherwise mobilizing our existing members in support of our organizing agenda.

SUBMITTED BY:

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD