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was the Magna Carta of labor, that estab-
lished as national policy the right of work-
ers in interstate commerce to organize and
bargain collectively.
Today these rights are basic to our
country, to our State, and to our economic
system. I support the amendment because
these rights should have constitutional
recognition, and even more important, the
right to organize and bargain collectively
ought now be extended to those workers not
covered by the National Labor Relations
Act.
I refer especially to migrant workers,
waiters, waitresses, laundry workers, and
retail clerks, all of whom receive low
wages and need the most protection.
There are more than half a million work-
ers in private industry in Maryland not
covered by Federal law. In addition, there
are more than 100,000 public employees
in this State not now protected.
This amendment would provide the basic
coverage all American citizens who work
for a living are entitled to. The people I
represent in Baltimore know what hard
work means. They want this amendment
passed. For all the working men and wom-
en in the State, I urge you to vote for this
amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Kiefer.
DELEGATE KIEFER: Mr. Chairman,
I yield three minutes to Delegate Jett.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Jett.
DELEGATE JETT: Mr. Chairman, fel-
low delegates, I rise in opposition to this
amendment. I think it is a tremendous ex-
ample of what not to put into the con-
stitution.
As Delegate Child has said, we are
putting in here something of one class
against another. As someone else has said,
if we are going to put this in, we might
as well put in references to the landlord
and tenant, borrower, lender, husband and
wife, mother-in-law and son-in-law.
This type of thing does not belong in the
constitution that we are writing for all
the people of this State, and 1 should say
to you again that it is not a thing that
should be in the constitution because the
legislature has recognized it.
There has never been, so far as I know,
one single bit of anti-labor legislation put
through our legislature. In addition to
this, as Delegate Bothe recognized when
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she stood up, we have written into the
policy of our State the right of representa-
tives and employees to organize and to act
for their own benefit.
I say to you that this is the type of
thing that we should leave to the legisla-
ture. They are equipped to handle it. They
are aware of the problem, and it is not the
type of thing that we should put into our
constitution.
I ask you to vote against the amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: I yield two min-
utes to Delegate Borom.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Borom.
DELEGATE BOROM: Mr. Chairman,
fellow delegates, I want to rise to support
the amendment submitted by the minority
because it is my belief that there ought to
be, within the constitution that we are
writing now, a clear and free right for
every individual to organize and bargain
collectively.
Delegate Kosakowski, I think, has made
the case very well. There are many people
who should not be deprived by accident of
employment of the right to bargain collec-
tively.
I think I would rather not indicate we
are in a class struggle, but I think we
would have to recognize that the popula-
tion to which this particular section may
have the most importance, represents a
population that has limited employment
opportunities. It also represents a popula-
tion which, although they may have spe-
cific preferences for a particular vocation,
should not be denied the right to bargain
collectively, to enhance or increase their
earning potential, and to have something
to say about the working conditions which
prevail at their places of employment.
In a society of rapidly escalating income,
it is extremely important that intrastate
workers have this privilege and this right
recognized in the constitution so that they
will not find themselves in the bind of the
group to which Delegate Bothe referred
during her presentation, those at Church-
Home Hospital. There, although they recog-
nized that certain conditions are against
them, they in effect do not have the oppor-
tunity or the option for ample recourse
against conditions which prevail.
I urge you to support this amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Kiefer.
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