Title
Ordinance Directing the Allegheny County Board of Elections to place before the qualified voters of the City of Pittsburgh at the 2011 November General Election a referendum question "Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter, Article Seven, Personnel, be supplemented by adding Section 711 - Right of City Employees to Collectively Bargain?"
Body
Whereas, the United States of America and its' States, including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Congress and the many legislatures have become increasingly controlled and influenced by multinational corporations to an extent where it is becoming evident that many of them are defacto subsidiaries of these corporations; and,
Whereas, this influence has led to the undeserved demagoguery of the American workforce and specifically, working men and women; and,
Whereas, despite the fact that all of our nation's economic calamities can be directly traced to corporate excesses, corporate dishonesty, corporate greed and a lack of proper government regulation; and,
Whereas, America's working-class families are under assault as Congress, governors and state legislatures move swiftly to return to a time when workers had no protections, employers had no standards, employees had no health insurance, workplace safety or any other basic human need; and,
Whereas, the residents of the City of Pittsburgh have the right, under home-rule, to proscribe such behavior on the part of their local elected representatives.
Be it resolved that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The Allegheny County Board of Election is hereby directed to place before the qualified voters of the City of Pittsburgh a referendum question at the 2011 November General Election: Shall the Pittsburgh Home Rule Charter, Article Seven, Personnel, be supplemented by adding Section 711 - Right of City Employees to Collectively Bargain:
"Section 711. Right of City Employees to Bargain Collectively with the City. The right of employees of the City of Pittsburgh to unionize and bargain collectively with the City for wages, workplace safety, health benefits and retirement benefits shall not be abridged by the City for any purpose." This section shall take effect immediately upon passage."