WALL OF SHAME

WHEREAS, despite heightened national and global support for civil and human rights for all citizens in all parts of the world; and

WHEREAS, the right to organize and join a union is a right guaranteed to all workers by the United Nations Declaration and by the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia tragically reminds us all of the need for strong unions in the workplace; and

WHEREAS, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits slavery and other forms of indentured servitude; and

WHEREAS, political leaders in all parties claim to be firm proponents of human rights and civil rights in all countries; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. annually publishes a list of persistent and notorious human rights violators that fails to sufficiently highlight abuses against free trade union activity; and

WHEREAS, despite these guarantees and the U.S. tradition of "checks and balances," workers in many U.S. states and in other countries are persistently and continuously denied the constitutional right to free association inherent in the trade union movement; and

WHEREAS, corporations employ all kinds of legal and illegal tactics to deny workers a voice in the workplace and continue to intimidate workers who seek to form free trade unions; and

WHEREAS, many private and government supporters and corporations, especially in the anti-labor Southern states and totalitarian countries, exhibit nostalgia for serfdom and servitude in the workplace:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urge the AFL-CIO to formulate annually a list of notorious anti-union corporations and governments; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT urge the AFL-CIO to advertise such a list under an appropriate banner such as "A Wall of Shame" so that the list of notorious violators is widely known; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT urge the AFL-CIO to increase its efforts to expose the hypocrisy of companies that praise and promote democracy in the world but practice autocracy, plutocracy and despotism in the workplace.