The Workplace:: The Union --------- Unions are implemented by contracts between current or prospective employees and the union, which is an incorporated entity whose members and staff are necessarily all employees of the same company. The union serves to combine the leverage of the employees coherently, to allow them to more effectively negotiate for improvements in working conditions and wages. No such contract can forbid the unilateral withdrawl of a current or prospective employee from the union at any time for any or no reason. The contract of an employee with the union usually delegates to the union the authority to negotiate on behalf of the employee in the employee's stated interests, and to announce to the employer that the employee refuses to perform some proportion of his duties, with the complaints stated regarding the current status of employment, and the demands stated the fulfillment of which will suffice for the employee to resume fulfillment of his duties in full. The worker is usually contractually bound not to work when such an announcement is made. When a union announces a strike, it must require that all union members cease work to the same proportionate degree. Employees must be allowed to vote on whether to accept a contract offered by the employer before the union can announce or initiate a strike. If the votes for less the votes against exceeds 25% of employees then the contract is accepted. Voting must remain open for at least 48 hours, and be readily and conveniently aaccessible to all employees. Any employee can form or enter a union, whether or not he is already in a union, and whether or not other employees are already in a union. Responsibilities of Employers ----------------------------- For the purposes of this section, an employer is an individual or incorporated entity that pays wages or salaries to workers, or is a self-employed worker (an individual who defines his own duties and schedule). Employers must enforce a policy which assures that workers whose competent performance is directly necessary to maintain the physical safety of others are not asked or allowed to work a schedule that can be expected to compromise their alertness or judgement. Specifically, the work schedule is so limited for any worker whose assigned activities include the operation of machinery when common errors endanger others, the manipulation of hazardous substances when common errors endanger others, the performance of medical duties, or the performance of guard or field law enforcement duties. The work schedule of such a worker must provide for at least 8 contiguous hours of sleep in any 24 hour period and 32 contiguous hours without work-related responsibilities in any 7 day period. If the period designated for sleep is shifted by four or more hours earlier or later over the course of a week, then for a period of 72 hours following attainment of the four hour shift threshold, the worker cannot be assigned any duties the competent performance of which is directly necessary to maintain the physical safety of others. The above scheduling constraints do not apply to the military in time of war, or to military training that affects only active military personnel, or to workers fulfilling government contracts or workers for monopolies, during declared war or natural disaster, when the government contract or monopoly work directly aids the wartime effort or emergency response to natural disaster. Employers must through a means of their choice, but subject to subsequent scrutiny in legal proceedings, verify the fitness for duty of workers with duties the competent performance of which is directly necessary to maintain the physical safety of others. Employers must assure that each worker is informed of the rules of his workplace(s), and of the known dangers of his workplace and duties. The employer must assure that a thoroughgoing investigation of the dangers of the workplaces is performed. Except when a worker is self-employed, an employer must pay a worker for all medical costs and unavoidably lost earnings if he sustains a physical injury in a workplace controlled by the employer while tending to his duties of employment and conforming to the law and the rules of that workplace. Latitude of Private Employment Discrimination --------------------------------------------- No law can restrict, regulate, or otherwise interfere with the bases on which an employer discriminates among applicants for employment, or the bases on which he decides to enter or refuse to enter business arrangements including simple sales, partnerships, and client relationships, or the bases on which he determines employee wages, duties, and promotions of rank, except that an employer who is a substantial monopoly is restricted as set forth in. Vacation -------- An employment contract must allow an employee up to eight weeks of vacation per year, contiguous or otherwise. Vacation time can be unpaid. If the worker is paid on an hourly or salary basis, he may forfeit a proportionate amount of earnings. An employee must provide at least one month of notice for every week of contiguous vacation. A pregnant person must be allowed vacation from the start of the seventh month of gestation continuing through the two months following birth. The requirement of advance notice is waived if the vacation is taken due to death of close friend or family, or serious illness or injury of self or dependents. On Firing and Quitting ---------------------- An employee (or employer) has no legal recourse to recover alleged damages due to a firing (or quitting) when the employer fires him (or an employee quits), unless the firing (or quitting) contradicts a stipulation of the employment contract as signed by the employee and employer.