BILL NUMBER: AB 517 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Oropeza FEBRUARY 18, 2003 An act to amend Section 923 of the Labor Code, relating to employment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 517, as introduced, Oropeza. Employment: labor. Existing law provides that it is the public policy of the state that workers are permitted to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 923 of the Labor Code is amended to read: 923. In the interpretation and application of this chapter, the public policy of this State is declared as follows: Negotiation of terms and conditions of labor should result from voluntary agreement between employer and employees. Governmental authorityhas permitted and encouragedpermits and encourages employers to organize in the corporate and other forms of capital control. In dealing with such employers, the individual unorganized worker is helpless to exercise actual liberty of contract and to protect his or her freedom of labor, and thereby to obtain acceptable terms and conditions of employment. Therefore it is necessary that the individualworkmanworker have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his or her own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his or her employment, and that he or she shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.