[Peace-discuss] FW: RESOLUTION TO PROTECT THE MIDDLE CLASS

[David Johnson]

We NEED to take Portions of this resolution and have it  written into a bill
and sponsored / submitted to the Illinois House and Senate

 

RESOLUTION TO PROTECT THE MIDDLE CLASS

WHEREAS, the Middle Class is the backbone of our country, state and
community and a vibrant Middle Class is essential to the nation's
prosperity; and

WHEREAS, the Middle Class pays the most taxes of any income bracket, spends
the most money at our local businesses and drives the local economy; and

WHEREAS, in order to maintain a vibrant Middle Class we must attract and
maintain jobs with family-supporting wages and benefits; and

WHEREAS the labor movement is a historic cornerstone of the American middle
class and remains essential to ensuring that economic prosperity is broadly
shared by all working people; and

WHEREAS, creation of right to work (for less) zones, repeal of prevailing
wage requirements on construction projects and elimination of standardized
subjects of bargaining would create a "race to the bottom" that would reduce
the pay of our community's workforce and, therefore, harm the local
businesses dependent upon local customers; and

WHEREAS, numerous studies have shown that right to work (for less) laws lead
to lower wages and benefits and more frequent workplace deaths; and

WHEREAS, the federal courts have ruled repeatedly and consistently that
right to work (for less) laws are the sole jurisdiction of state and
territorial governments, not local governments; and 

WHEREAS, the Illinois Attorney General has recently reaffirmed the legal
opinion that local governments do not have the authority to pass local right
to work (for less) ordinances; and 

WHEREAS, passage of a local right to work (for less) ordinance would
undoubtedly generate a legal challenge that our government would have to
fruitlessly defend at a significant cost to our taxpayers; and

WHEREAS, prevailing wage laws create a level playing field for local
construction contractors by forcing out-of-state contractors to bid on
projects based on the skill and efficiency of their workforce, not how far
they can drive down wages and benefits; and

WHEREAS, by benefitting local contractors, prevailing wage laws greatly
increase the likelihood that construction workers from our community will be
employed on the projects that their tax dollars and those of our other tax
payers fund; and

WHEREAS, local construction workers, when gainfully employed, patronize our
local businesses and help create jobs in our local economy; and

WHEREAS, subjects of collective bargaining for public sector workers are
defined by state law and to allow local governments to determine which
subjects will be on the bargaining table for their employees would limit
Middle Class workers' ability to advocate for themselves; and

WHEREAS, a vital and accessible Workers' Compensation system is essential to
the economic security of working families hit with unexpected injury or
illness; and

WHEREAS, changes to the Workers' Compensation system that disproportionately
affect older workers are unjust; and

WHEREAS, the Local Government Distributive Fund (LDGF) is essential to
provide the local services the citizens of our communities need and expect;
and 

WHEREAS, cutting LDGF funds to local governments will result in harmful cuts
in services and likely create tax increases at the local level; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the ________ of ________ hereby stands with and supports
the Middle Class residents of our county/municipality/unit of government and
pledge that we will not take any action against them; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be delivered to the
Governor of the State of Illinois, the President of the Illinois Senate, the
Republican Leader of the Illinois Senate, the Speaker of the Illinois House
of Representatives, and the Republican Leader of the Illinois House of
Representatives.

PASSED by the ______________this ____ day of ____________, 2015.

 

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