Congress has passed laws--like the Full Employment Act of 1946 and the Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978--promising everyone a job. But those laws are full of loopholes and have never been enforced. We need to put the right to a job into the U.S. Constitution to force Congress to find ways to implement it.

The BMWE, the third endorsing international union of the Labor Party strongly encourages its members to help make "a job as a right" happen. Join the Labor Party. Sign the petition calling on your elected officials to support the "Constitutional Right to a Job Amendment." Volunteer to help gather signatures. Discuss and pass the Resolution shown on this page at your next subordinate lodge meeting.

Resolution in Support of the Labor Party 28th Amendment Right to a Job Campaign

WHEREAS, the Labor Party was founded in June 1996 by hundreds of local unions, Central Labor Councils and International Unions (including the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes) representing over one million trade unionists, and thousands of community activists, and

WHEREAS, the Labor Party adopted a program of addressing the needs, concerns and aspirations of working people in the United States, and

WHEREAS, the Labor Party cites as the central problem in our country the growing lack of good-paying jobs due to corporate downsizing, an assault on the public sector and corporations moving jobs overseas and

WHEREAS, despite soaring corporate profits and a so-called economic recovery, nearly one in four workers are either unemployed, involuntarily working part time or working full time at poverty-level wages, and

WHEREAS, between 1987 and 1989, 6.7 million workers were laid off and from 1993 to 1995 the number jumped to 10.1 million, and

WHEREAS, the jobs that are being created are not nearly as good as the jobs that we are losing--a 1996 U.S. Labor Department study of workers laid off between 1993 and 1995 found that 40 percent found jobs that paid less or were part time, 26 percent could not find jobs and only 25 percent found jobs that paid the same or better, and

WHEREAS, the combination of welfare, increased government costs and lost revenues due to unemployment, cost taxpayers $240 billion a year, and

WHEREAS, with $240 billion we could create about 5 million jobs at $10 an hour and 2.78 million jobs at $18 an hour--a total of 7.78 million jobs--more than enough to wipe out the need for unemployment insurance and workfare, and

WHEREAS, the Labor Party has initiated a campaign to amend the U.S. Constitution because all past legislation--including the Full Employment Act of 1946 and the Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978--has been gutted by the corporate-controlled Congress, and

WHEREAS, the Labor Party campaign calls for amending the U.S. Constitution to guarantee a job at a livable wage with a floor of $10 an hour for everyone willing to work,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that _________________________ officially supports the Labor Party’s 28th Constitutional Amendment Campaign, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that _________________________ will work with the Labor Party to determine how best our union/organization can carry out the objectives of this campaign.

Resolution Presented and Affirmed: _____________________________________________

Name Title Union/Organization Date