Resolution on the Employee Free Choice Act

Jan 28, 2009 4:49 PM

UFT Resolution in Support of the Employee Free Choice Act:

WHEREAS, organized labor has been a force in our nation that has brought both justice and economic security to millions upon millions of workers by negotiating good wages, pensions and health benefits; and

WHEREAS, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed in the midst of the Great Depression with the intention of fostering and encouraging the unionization of American workplaces; and

WHEREAS, in the seven decades since the NLRA’s passage the law has been turned – through legislative amendment, court and administrative interpretation, and weak enforcement – into a tool used by employers to thwart unionization, the exact opposite of its original intent; and

WHEREAS, employers fighting union drives routinely mount sophisticated, extensive anti-union campaigns using harassment, intimidation and delay tactics that are all now legal under the NLRA, and many employers fire pro-union employees, which is illegal under the law but carries laughable penalties; and

WHEREAS, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would fix many of the problems in our current labor law by giving workers a fair and direct path to form unions, helping workers secure a contract in a reasonable period of time and strengthening the penalties against employers who violate the law; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT strongly and actively support the labor movement’s efforts to get the new Congress to pass EFCA; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT urge President Obama, who co-sponsored EFCA as a senator, to add his vocal support for EFCA and to sign the bill into law once Congress passes it.

Passed at the January 28, 2009 Delegate Assembly