Whereas:

In our current economic system it is apparent that employers around the world are allowed by law and encouraged by past practice to exploit the labor of others; AND

They do this to create wealth for themselves and often for their shareholders; AND

The result has been gross economic inequality in the U.S. and around the world; AND

Workers safety, democratic-human rights, and general well-being are compromised in this race for wealth; AND

Collective action by workers has been an effective response to this type of exploitation; AND

Collective action not only has helped workers gain better wages but also empowers workers to have a voice at work in regards to their safety and other democratic rights.

And whereas LDS authorities have made the following statements:

"I have not approved and do not approve of capital's weapons--the blacklist, lockouts, and grinding out the maximum returns for the minimum of wage outlay, even the imposition of starvation wages, that too often have been capital's means of dealing with labor in the past. These have worked great injustices that must not be repeated" (J. Reuben Clark, in BYU Studies 16 [Winter 1976]: 241); AND

"I have looked upon the community of Latter-day Saints in vision and beheld them organized as one great family of heaven, each person performing his several duties in his line of industry, working for the good of the whole rather than for individual aggrandizement" (Brigham Young, in Great Basin Kingdom, 27).

Now therefore let it be resolved that MESJ:

1.	Calls for stronger labor laws that protect the rights of workers to organize.
2.	Stands by workers in their efforts to organize.
3.	Stands by workers in their struggle to earn better wages, gain access to health care, have safe working conditions, and gain a voice in their place of employment.
4.	Stands by workers and their organizations around the world in their struggle to gain a more just workplace--especially those employed in sweatshop conditions.

Adopted 20 July 2002