NationStates Jolt Archive

This proposal, presently on either page 11 or 12 as of the time of this post, is designed to give more hard definition to previous labor laws and establish a few more important laws, such as freedom of choice over joining a union. Please endorse this proposal if you see fit.

People generally find it easier if you can quote the proposal in the forum here for the purposes of debate.
RECOGNIZING that labor laws are presently inconsistent and loaded with loopholes,

FULLY AWARE that many employers are "closed shops", or union-only employers, while others are closed to unions,

THE UNITED NATIONS:

1. DEFINES the following commonly used terms in labor as follows:

--"day": the time it takes for the Earth to rotate on its axis, from midnight to midnight,
--"hour": one 24th of an Earth day
--"week": seven Earth days
--"year": 365 Earth days, or 366 in a leap year;

2. PROVIDES that nations are allowed to use different local definitions of "day", "hour", "week", and "year", but for purposes of payment for labor, must prorate all labor time in accordance with the definitions in Article 1, i.e. a nation that uses a 20 day work week is still bound by the 40 Hour Work Week resolution, but may define full-time as 114 hours per week in prorating with a 20-day work week;

3. ESTABLISHES that no employer may require or forbid an employee to join a union upon employment, and no organization within any employer may require or forbit joining a union;

4. REQUIRES that employers may not force any employee to work if said employee can produce a medical excuse, though employers are not required except by any applicable local laws to compensate employees menetarily for "sick days";

5. DECLARES that all employees, no matter their occupation, shall be entitled to a minimum of 60 days per year in which they are not required to appear at their place of employment for any reason, working out to a minimum of one day per week and eight additional days per year, and further establishes that no employee shall be obligated under any circumstances to work more than 10 consecutive days except by choice;

6. DECIDES to remain seized on the matter.

Despite the fact that it could do with a good-spell check, and that (6) is sort of superfluous, it's a decent proposal. I'm approving it.

#6 is standard-issue for UN proposals (or at least they are for a Model UN junkie like myself), and I didn't notice any spelling errors off-hand (unless I misspelled "prorate") but I am open to suggestions.

I must confess I don't know much about how the RL UN works in specific.

RECOGNIZING that labor laws are presently inconsistent and loaded with loopholes,

FULLY AWARE that many employers are "closed shops", or union-only employers, while others are closed to unions,

THE UNITED NATIONS:

1. DEFINES the following commonly used terms in labor as follows:

--"day": the time it takes for the Earth to rotate on its axis, from midnight to midnight,
--"hour": one 24th of an Earth day
--"week": seven Earth days
--"year": 365 Earth days, or 366 in a leap year;

2. PROVIDES that nations are allowed to use different local definitions of "day", "hour", "week", and "year", but for purposes of payment for labor, must prorate all labor time in accordance with the definitions in Article 1, i.e. a nation that uses a 20 day work week is still bound by the 40 Hour Work Week resolution, but may define full-time as 114 hours per week in prorating with a 20-day work week;

3. ESTABLISHES that no employer may require or forbid an employee to join a union upon employment, and no organization within any employer may require or forbid joining a union;

4. REQUIRES that employers may not force any employee to work if said employee can produce a medical excuse, though employers are not required except by any applicable local laws to compensate employees monetarily for "sick days";

5. DECLARES that all employees, no matter their occupation, shall be entitled to a minimum of 60 days per year in which they are not required to appear at their place of employment for any reason, working out to a minimum of one day per week and eight additional days per year, and further establishes that no employee shall be obligated under any circumstances to work more than 10 consecutive days except by choice;

6. DECIDES to remain seized on the matter.
(Corrections in bold)

What about the space-themed U.N. nations? Their planets have different measurements for "hour" and "day" and "week". I do not believe that those nations should be bound to Earth time if it does not apply to them.

"shall be entitled to a minimum of 60 days per year in which they are not required to appear at their place of employment for any reason"

That, to put it bluntly, is insane. We, the hardworking people of Leynier refuse to ever suppose such a measure. It is an invitation to slovenly behavior.

I think it should also read "unless the employee is willing to take on that work." Studies show that vacations of at least up to three weeks are needed to recouperate for the job.

"shall be entitled to a minimum of 60 days per year in which they are not required to appear at their place of employment for any reason"

That, to put it bluntly, is insane. We, the hardworking people of Leynier refuse to ever suppose such a measure. It is an invitation to slovenly behavior.

60 days per year is a bit over one day per week. If people choose to work every day of the week, fine by me, but by no means should they be required to. "Entitled" and "obligated" are different words, you know.