Fiscal Note
No expenditure required.
Title
That the City of Madison supports the Employee Free Choice Act.
Body
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, states in which more people are union members are states with higher wages, better benefits and better schools; and
WHEREAS, union workers receive better wages and benefits, with union workers earning 29 percent more than workers without a union, 35 percent more likely to have access to health insurance, and are four times more likely to have access to 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 9 percent for Asian-American workers; and
WHEREAS, workers across the nation are routinely denied the freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life, with 25 percent of private-sector employers illegally firing at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns; and
WHEREAS, 77 percent of the public believes it is important to have strong laws protecting the freedom for workers to make their own decision about having a union, and 58 percent of workers would join a union if they had the chance; and
WHEREAS, employers often refuse to bargain fairly with workers after forming a union by dragging ou...
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