Submitted by Southern Maine Central Labor Council
WHEREAS, the continuing decline in union membership is destructive to the well-being of all workers but especially so for union members who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing, privatization, corporate globalization and other manifestations of corporate greed; and
WHEREAS, displaced union members, as veterans of the class struggle, deserve the respect, honor and benefits befitting their veteran status; and
WHEREAS, in years past—usually quite far in the past—some unions negotiated reciprocal agreements regarding the payment of initiation fees; and
WHEREAS, such reciprocal agreements, for the most part, have not been updated in decades and many of the unions that were party to such agreements have been subsumed by multiple mergers;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the 25th Constitutional Convention of the AFL-CIO endorses and supports the concept of reciprocal membership agreements, which provide that members of participating unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO that are in good standing at the time of losing their jobs for any reason except discharge for just cause and who later attain employment in a job under contract with any other participating union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, shall be relieved of the requirement of paying another initiation fee. We therefore urge all affiliated national and international unions to adopt such reciprocal agreements.