EBJW's Content

Employer Resistance Drives Down Union Membership in U.S., Around World

EBJW — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:03:01 -0800

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/12/11/global-union-summit-employer-resistanc...

The United States has the lowest level of union membership and collective bargaining of any industrial nation—and now the oppressive culture that deters workers from freely forming unions here is being exported around the world.

A study released today by John Logan, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, points out that anti-worker governments are the main cause of the decline in union membership in several countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, but that in the United States there is the added factor of “aggressive and often-illegal employer opposition.”

The intensity of employer opposition and government hostility to collective bargaining in the United States is unique among developed nations.

This “repressive character of U.S. labor law, which allows free rein to anti-union employers,” not only hurts workers in the United States and in other nations, Logan said today.

There is growing evidence that consultants, employer groups and multinational corporations are exporting U.S.-originated anti-union strategies to other developed countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland and to transforming countries such as China. Strengthening the right to organize and bargain collectively through the Employee Free Choice Act would benefit not only American workers, but also workers in other nations.

Logan spoke at a Capitol Hill press conference and congressional forum in conjunction with the AFL-CIO-hosted global organizing summit, a two-day meeting in Silver Spring, Md., in which top union leaders discussed strategies for coordinating action.

Sharan Burrow, president of the International Trade Union Confederation, said the delegates came to “prioritize and organize against the oppression afflicted on working people.” (See video.)

Logan’s report, Unions Facing Hard Times: The Global Crisis in Union Collective Bargaining, shows that Sweden has the highest rate of union membership with 80 percent, while the United States trails at the bottom with 12 percent. Click here to download a copy of the report (PDF).

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney backed up Logan’s conclusions, saying:

Workers want to form unions. More than half of all workers in the United States—60 million—would join a union today, if only they had the opportunity. But too few ever get the chance. Corporations are sinking to new lows in the United States, thwarting workers’ freedom to form unions at every turn, and our nation’s labor laws are helpless to stop them. The U.S. is exporting this lawless corporate culture, creating a domino effect that’s toppling workers’ rights worldwide.

Today’s congressional forum on collective bargaining was the first of its kind. Two sessions—one on the collective bargaining crisis in the United States and one on the global crisis—were led by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), respectively. Other members of Congress who attended included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), Phillip Hare (D-Ill.) and John Sarbanes (D-Md.).

Kelly Beringer, a nurse at Resurrection Health Care in Chicago, told the forum how the Catholic-owned hospital chain has systematically fought workers’ efforts to form a union, which led to 14 unfair labor practice settlements in four years. Management settled each charge by having to post a notice promising not to commit the same offense again. Sometimes, the notice was not posted until a year after the violation. She says labor laws must be changed.

In real terms, there are no consequences for violating the National Labor Relations Act. Everyday in the United States, companies like Resurrection simply violate the law. To them, it’s worth having to post a few notices if you squash an organizing drive.

All we ask is for a fair process under which we can decide—free of fear and intimidation and democratically—whether to form a union.

For John Lindner, a seven-year field technician for Verizon in New York City, the issue is one of economic security and freedom. Verizon has launched a long-running vicious campaign to prevent its workers from joining a union.

We want to form a union because we want what everybody else who works hard for a living wants—decent wages, good health benefits and retirement security.

I have served several tours of duty in both Afghanistan and Iraq. My country called me to serve, telling me I had to fight to protect freedom here in the United States. Imagine the irony of returning home and finding that my freedom to join a union is being denied.

Victor Baez, general secretary of ORIT, the Latin American arm of the International Trade Union Confederation, said what happens to U.S. workers and their unions has consequences in Latin America. When U.S. workers’ rights are weakened, unions’ political strength is weakened and that can lead to faulty trade agreements that do not include workers’ rights:

When U.S. workers lose power to bargain, workers are exploited in Latin America. The passage of the Employee Free Choice Act would benefit workers in the U.S. and it is absolutely essential to the restoration of workers’ rights in this hemisphere.

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

Historic Global Summit Kicks Off

EBJW — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:29:03 -0800

With workers’ rights under attack around the world, some 220 top global union leaders from more than 63 countries kicked off the first-ever global summit on organizing at the National Labor College (NLC) in Silver Spring, Md. They plan to map strategies to restore the balance between working people and powerful corporations that ignore national boundaries and rules in search of the greatest profit.

The Dec. 10–11 conference, hosted by the AFL-CIO, marks International Human Rights Day, held each Dec. 10 to commemorate passage of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Union members around the world commemorate Human Rights Day, and the Declaration serves as both benchmark and beacon for how well human rights, including the freedom to form unions and have decent working conditions, are respected and protected.

Fred Van Leeuwen, chairman of the Council of Global Unions (CGU), the summit’s sponsor, set the theme:

As never before, we must link globally. We are sending a message to corporations everywhere that everyone has aright to join a union.

Stressing that solidarity is the key to the fight to the future growth of the union movement, Van Leeuwen made it clear that unions must look beyond just organizing new members on the ground, but also become a movement for social justice for all and to stand for important values such as human dignity.

Like a free press, a free trade union movement is vital to democracy.

Anita Normark, vice president of the Global Unions Federation, said the path to a successful revival of the union movement is to put strategies together that work on the ground.

One powerful tool in building a stronger global movement, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, is to combine political action with organizing. That is especially critical in the United States where

President Bush and his cronies have done all they can to destroy workers’rights around the world. The truth is until we are able to restore basic workers’ rights in the United States, the worldwide decline will not stop.

But rather than wring our hands in desperation or wash our hands of responsibility we need to build strategies for global action. We have to create global strategies not just to bargain with individual employers, but to restore the right to organize for workers all over the world.

If we work together, we can, we must and we will transform hope into new realities.

Tomorrow, the global leaders will deliver the message that workers should have the freedom to form unions to Capitol Hill, where they will testify before members of Congress on the crisis on workers’ rights and the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.

A major example of the power of combining political action with organizing is the recent successful campaign by Australian unions to change the nation’s leadership from a very anti-worker government to one that supports workers’ rights.

Sharan Burrow, president of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and a leader of the Australian education union, said the political victory was the result of a strategic effort that took three years to complete. Australian unions built alliances with church groups, youth groups and ran a two-year ad campaign that emphasized how the government was hurting the average worker. Workers also made house calls and phone calls to union members urging them to vote for a new government.

Says Burrow:

Organizing works. You know organizing works, but we must go forward with tenacity and determination if we are going to win the fight for decant work.

This afternoon, delegates will meet in small groups to discuss the pressing issues in the global union movement and develop ideas to restore workers’ rights. The group will be divided into three areas for discussion: industrial, political and communications. Using a pre-determined set of questions, facilitators will lead small table discussions to identify problems and submit solutions, which will be compiled, condensed and voted upon by using individual electronic keypads after the entire group reconvenes Tuesday morning.

At that point, the entire union movement will vote on issues electronically to determine the main priorities in the coming year.

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

Alberta Trade Unions Fight to Change Unfair Labor Laws

EBJW — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:35:46 -0800

Since the Labor Day Long Weekend Alberta Trade Unions have been holding public demonstrations in support of Carpenters Local 1325. The latest concerted activity took place on Sept 22 2007 on a Saturday afternoon which actually saw close to a 1000 trades people march from the labour board bldg down to the legislature. Protesting over the denial of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 1325 right to strike denied. The fight to change Unfair Labor Laws has just began. The Carpenters will be there to finish the job. (footage excerpted from CTV).

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

Penny Foolish

EBJW — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:05:09 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/opinion/29schlosser.html

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

Farm Labor Organizing Committee Protest

EBJW — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:21:13 -0800

Farm Labor Organizing Committee protests unfair working conditions at RJ Reynolds, October 28, 2007

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

Marchers to Burger King: We Will Not Be Turned Back

EBJW — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:28:56 -0800

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

Iraqi Oil Workers Are Living Under Tyranny!

EBJW — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:58:35 -0800

Sharing her views on the undemocratic and unfair labor situation in U.S.-Occupied Iraq was Ms. Shawna Bader-Blau, Senior Program Officer of the Solidary Center for the AFL-CIO. Background: The regime installed in Iraq by the Bush Administration has banned all trade unions. A rally protesting the suppression of workers' rights in that country was held on Aug. 16, 2007. It was sponsored by the AFL-CIO, its Solidarity Center, and the Washington, D.C. Labor Council. The event was held in front of the Republic of Iraq Embassy, at 3421 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

With These Hands I Demand the Future: Coalition of Immokalee Workers

EBJW — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:32:26 -0800

With these hands I demand the future that poverty wages have stolen from me.

Farmworkers returning from picking tomatoes bought by companies, such as McDonald's, show hands stained with pesticides and heavy with hard work.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is declaring that they are tired, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, of "relying on the goodwill and understanding of those who profit from exploiting us," and are escalating their campaign to convince fast food companies to end human rights violations in their supply chains.

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

Workers' Rights are Human Rights

EBJW — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:15:31 -0800

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”

Signed and ratified by the U.S. in 1948, the 23rd Article of this treaty defines workers' rights as human rights. In the United States and across the globe, however, workers continue to face harsh working conditions, poor wages and employer intimidation, coercion and job termination during organizing campaigns.