AFT Resolution

NATIONAL LABOR LAW REFORM

WHEREAS, the Bush-dominated National Labor Relations Board has demonstrated a strong anti-union animus through its perversion of labor laws originally intended to promote and protect the civil and human rights of workers to freedom of association and collective mutual support; and

WHEREAS, the anti-worker animus of this NLRB has targeted the eligibility for union membership and protections of tens of thousands of nurses by declaring them managers in the Kentucky River decision; and

WHEREAS, this Bush NLRB has stripped away the union rights of tens of thousands of workers through its Brown University decision, which declared that paid employees are not workers because they happen to be graduate students; and

WHEREAS, these anti-union decisions have been made under the mantle of the anti-labor Taft-Hartley amendments and subsequent anti-labor federal court decisions; and

WHEREAS, such anti-union court decisions have a “chilling effect” on workers’ civil and human rights to organize and join free trade unions, engage in political action and promote democratic values; and

WHEREAS, the 2006 election results showed that labor is “alive and well” in the political arena and is responsible for many progressive changes in Congress; and

WHEREAS, the momentum created by labor’s recent successful and well-organized election efforts in many Senate and House races creates a “window of opportunity” to demand immediate congressional action for meaningful Labor Law reform:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO, continue to develop and aggressively promote strategies to achieve a more creative and more effective media and public relations campaign for National Labor Law reform; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO, increase pressure on the new congressional majority to amend and create the federal legislation necessary to protect the civil and human right to organize and join free trade unions without fear of retribution; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers employ such political, legislative and judicial efforts as may be necessary and appropriate to win a reversal of the Kentucky River and Brown University decisions and restore union rights to nurses, graduate student employees, and other similarly disenfranchised workers.

(2009)