A RESOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF OREGON
WHEREAS, the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) affords most American workers the right to act in concert to form a union for the purpose of collective bargaining of terms and conditions of employment, and
WHEREAS, the NLRA is a federal act that exempted farmworkers, thereby, denying them collective bargaining rights and beginning 87 years of discriminatory and economic oppression against farmworkers, and
WHEREAS, Sebastian Francisco Perez, a migrant worker, died June 26, 2021 during an unprecedented heat wave while working an Oregon tree farm, and
WHEREAS, in the State of California, Cesar Chavez and the UFW convinced legislators to pass the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA), mirrored after the same rights and provisions in the NLRA that protect the rest of American workers and afford them collective bargaining rights.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF OREGON RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. We rebuke the past practice of denying farmworkers the right to form unions.
Section 2. We call for the legalization of collective bargaining rights for farmworkers in the State of Oregon.
Section 3. We call for the passage of an Oregon Agricultural Labor Relations Act that, at minimum, grants agricultural workers the full protections of the National Labor Relations Act, including the right to freely organize at workplaces without intimidation, coercion, or harassment.
Resolution submitted by Hector Hinojosa, Washington County.
