FT: Rights of Working People Act of 2017

[rpryor03]

AN ACT
to establish the right of the workers
to organize, provide for the just
compensation of labor, and recognize
to contribution of working people to
the history and culture of Fremont

Section 1 (Title)
i. The long title of this Act shall be, the "Rights of Working People Act of 2017." It may be cited as the "Working People's Bill of Rights" or as "RWPA."
ii. For the purposes of this Act, "working people" shall refer to persons employed or in search of employment in one or more of the States of this Commonwealth.
iii. For the purposes of this Act, "labor union" shall refer to a body of working people organized to bargain collectively with their employers.
iv. For the purposes of this Act, "employer" shall refer to an entity being recipient of the labor of working people in exchange for monetary compensation.

Section 2 (Right to Organize)
i. The right of a body of working people to organize and bargain collectively for improvements in their wages, working conditions, and terms of employment is hereby protected.
ii. No employer shall make non-membership in a labor union a condition for employment, nor establish the exercise of the Right to Organization established by Section 2.i of this Act as grounds for dismissal.
iii. No agency of this government, nor of the several States of this Commonwealth, shall be employed for the purpose of compelling striking members of a labor union to resume work, save when in times of war or public emergency the general safety may require it.
iv. Persons being employed to work an average of thirty (30) hours per week for a single employer, regardless of whether said work is done at a single establishment or several establishments, shall be classified as a Full-Time Employee entitled to all benefits and protections of the same.

Section 3 (Just Compensation)
i. The minimum hourly rate of compensation shall be equal to 2.625% the prevailing cost of living in the county in which the work is performed as calculated by the federal Subdepartment of Labor, adjusted annually for inflation.
ii. States, Counties, and Municipalities shall have power to adjust upward the rate established by Section 3.i of this Act at their discretion.

Section 4 (Recognition)
i. The month of May shall henceforth be known as Working People's History Month, and schools and cultural institutions of this Commonwealth encouraged to mark the passage of such by commemorating the contributions of laborers of all professions to the history, prosperity, culture, and values of this Commonwealth.

[Goldwater]

I have a question about this bill. Does section 3 conflict with any currently existing Federal or Regional minimum wage laws?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Two threads are better than one, I guess.

Alrighty! The purpose of this Act, in a nutshell, is to establish basic legal protections for working people in regards to wages and collective bargaining rights. Most of this should be fairly self-explanatory, but here's the basic rundown:

Section 2 protects the right of all workers to organize and bargain collectively with their employers, prohibits the regional government from forcing strikers back to work (except in a bonafide emergency), and closes a loophole in the definition of full-time work that allows chains to spread their employees' hours across multiple locations to avoid giving them benefits.

Section 3 indexes the regional minimum wage to the cost of living (with automatic annual adjustment for inflation).

Section 4 designates May as "Working People's History Month." (Hopefully, this won't be controversial.)

I have a question about this bill. Does section 3 conflict with any currently existing Federal or Regional minimum wage laws?

Thanks for the question, Mr. Vice President! The Fremont Minimum Wage Implementation Act, passed by the 1st Legislative Assembly late in the summer of 2016, established a regional minimum wage of $11.00 / hour, subject to annual increases of $0.75 until 2020. Accordingly, the adoption of this Act could effect variations to that rate, depending on the calculated cost of living in across the several states. With that in mind, I would be willing to accept an amendment establishing a buffer period before Section 3 is fully implemented, to allow the market to adjust to this new standard.

Federal legislation adopted under the administration of President Leinad mandates an increase of the national minimum wage to $9.00 / hour, effective April of this year; were the president to sign the Amendment to the Real Living Wage Act, this would be succeeded by gradual increases over the next three years, culminating in a federal minimum wage of $11.00 / hour by 2020. Obviously, federal law has supremacy over regional law, so the president's action in regard to that bill could considerably alter the effect of Section 3.

[rpryor03]

I move to amend by striking 4.i and replacing it with "All school districts shall be encouraged to focus parts of their history curriculum on the history of the working class."

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I object to the motion of the honorable Speaker. The purpose of Section 4 is to encourage broader societal awareness of the contributions made by working people to our culture and history, not merely to add to the history curriculum of public schools. I would be happy to append the Speaker's proposal to the existing Section 4, however.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I offer the following amendment to Section 3, subsection i:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Essentially, this is a fleshed-out version of the existing Section 3, based on the figures presented in this paper published by MIT in 2015, to provide a greater degree of guidance in calculating the cost of living / living wage.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

As 24 hours have passed without an objection, I believe my amendment has been adopted.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Is there any further debate to be had here? As with the TRA, I'm rather disappointed by the lack of discussion, but will move for a final vote tomorrow evening if no-one has anything else to add.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Alright, then. I move for a final vote on this bill; Members have 24 hours to object.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Division! Members will vote AYE, NAY, or Abstain; voting will last 72 hours or until all Members have voted.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AYE!

[ASPN]

AYE!

[RFayette]

Aye

[Tirnam]

Aye

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

With four votes in favor and one Member not voting, this bill has been ADOPTED.

You must be logged in to read this quote.