Union Protection Act
Preamble
An act to protect the integrity, functioning, and power of labor unions.
I. Definitions
I. Labor union - an organization of workers who have come together to further and/or defend their interests.
II. Cartel - a group of independent participants in the economy who collude as to improve profits and/or establish a monopoly
III. Strike - a mass refusal of employees to work, most often a result of grievances.
IV. RIght to recourse - the ability of a party in a given conflict to contact and utilize a third party for the purpose of intevention in the conflict.
II. Rights
I. Workers have the right to freely form and join labor unions, excluding cartels which may fall under the provided definition of a labor union.
II. Workers have the right to be able to maintain their employment, their working conditions, and their compensation at the level they were beforehand in the event that they choose to join or form a labor union.
III. Workers have the right to strike without fear of physical reprisal from state actors, employers, or individuals or bodies employed or acting on the behalf of an employer.
IV. State-recognized labor unions have the right to negotiate terms of employment, working conditions, or other aspects of compensation or workers' rights, on an equal basis with their employer or employers within their industry, otherwise known as engaging in collective bargaining.
V. The extent to which this applies to the armed forces and to the police is determined by member-states.
VI. In the negotiation described by clause V, workers and employers have the right to recourse to a neutral arbitrator, which must be provided by a member-state if requested.
VII. Agreements that are a result of negotiation as described in clauses V, VI, and VII must be enforced. If an employer or employers refuses to enforce them, then it is the responsibility of the member-state to enforce them.
VIII. Agreements that are a result of negotiation as described in clauses V, VI, and VII may not be changed without the consent of all parties involved.
IX. Member-states shall also be compelled to develop institutions as to facilitate voluntary negotiation between recognized labor unions, and employers, both within and outside of their organizations, in general.
X. Member-states are recommended, but not compelled, to include state-recognized labor unions or other organizations generally representative of workers, as well as employers and their organizations, in legislative processes involving labor rights and/or conditions.
XI. Member-states may impose the requirement that strikes must be approved by a simple majority of union membership who would in such a scenario be compelled to strike. To provide an example for use in the case of litigation, a member state may require that, in the case a workplace-specific strike is ordered, union members within said workplace must approve the strike by a simple majority vote in order for it to be carried out.
III. On the Functioning of Labor Unions
I. Workers within a labor union have the right to draw up a constitution or constitution for said unions and rules and regulations governing it without interference.
II. Workers within a labor union have the right to elect representatives within said union without interference.
III. A labor union has the right to go about its activities without interference, so long as said activities do not contradict with national law, unless if said activities contradict the law of member states, so long as said laws do not themselves contradict with the rights enumerated in Section I.
IV. Labor unions have the right to join and establish greater federations and confederations, which themselves shall be recognized as labor unions in their own right.
V. The incorporation of labor unions, and their legal personality in general, shall not be regulated or made subject to regulations that prevent the exercise of the rights given to them or to their members.
VI. Labor unions must respect national law, in such cases where national law does not conflict with the rights given to them, to their members, or to workers in general.
VII. The extent to which this applies to the armed forces and to the police is determined by member-states.
IV. Prohibitions
I. Employers, workers, as well as any state actor, may not prevent or discourage workers from joining or forming a labor union or labor unions in any way.
II. Employers, workers, as well as any state actor, may not take action as to make the negotiation described in article II, clauses V, VI, VII, and X overly difficult to initiate.
Before you is the second version of the Union Protection Act, amended as to answer several grievances raised publicly and privately. I apologize for having withdrawn and again resubmitted this act, but I felt it necessary to propose the additional amendments now included here. If these amemdments continue to be unable to answer grievances raised by Councillors, feel free to propose amendments; I too, may propose amendments to respond to these.
Iras Tilkanas
Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen
The Kingdom of Spain
