ENGROSSED SENATE
CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION NO. 8	By:	Russell and Coffee of the Senate

			and

		Benge of the House

A Concurrent Resolution finding the Employee Free Choice Act detrimental; urging members of the Oklahoma Congressional delegation to oppose it; and directing distribution.

WHEREAS, the right to a private secret ballot when voting on external representation is fundamentally inherent in our representative Republic and should not be infringed upon; and
WHEREAS, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA:  H.R. 800/S. 1041) will replace a federally supervised private ballot election with a system that facilitates coercion and intimidation known as “card check” whereby employees publically sign cards to vote for unionization; and
WHEREAS, seventy-nine percent of the American people support a worker’s right to a federally supervised secret ballot election when deciding whether or not to join a union.  The tri-partisan agreement to oppose the EFCA is overwhelming:  seventy-seven percent of Republicans, eighty-two percent of Democrats, and seventy-nine percent of independents believe in protecting private ballots; and
WHEREAS, even the Chair of the United States House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee, Representative George Miller (D-CA), a staunch supporter of the American “card check” bill, sent a letter to Mexican government officials which stated, “We feel that the private ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they may otherwise not choose;” and
WHEREAS, the Employee Free Choice Act’s mandatory binding arbitration provisions deny workers the right to participate in the collective bargaining process between employees and the union.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 52ND OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN:
THAT the Oklahoma State Legislature finds that so-called “card check” legislation such as the “Employee Free Choice Act” is detrimental to the rights of workers and an offence against democratic principles.
THAT the Oklahoma State Legislature urges all members of the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation to support worker freedom by opposing the Employee Free Choice Act and any of its components in 2009 and in future years.
THAT a copy of this legislation be distributed to members of the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation.
Adopted by the Senate the 10th day of March, 2009.

	
Presiding Officer of the Senate

Adopted by the House of Representatives the ____ day of _______, 2009.

	
Presiding Officer  of the House
	of Representatives