Workers Around the World Back Employee Free Choice

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/05/08/workers-around-the-world-back-employee-free-choice/

by James Parks, May 8, 2009

Workers around the world understand the freedom to freely join a union is a human right and one of the key marks of a free society. That’s why the global union movement is solidly behind the Employee Free Choice Act.

The most recent examples of that strong support come from Thailand and Indonesia. In a letter to United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, Saman Pronprachathum, general secretary of the Petroleum & Chemical Worker’s Federation of Thailand, says “a strong economy depends on workers [being] given the opportunity to join a trade union and to bargain collectively so that fair wages and social benefits are lifted for all in a society.”


In a separate letter to Gerard, Irzan Zulpakar and Etin Rodiana, president and general secretary, respectively, of the Indonesian paper workers union, say:

Our trade union stands firmly behind the American trade unions in your efforts to get the United States Congress to pass this legislation into law, with the support of President Barack Obama….[W]e consider it an essential element in a free society that workers be allowed to join a trade union in an unobstructed way.


The outcome of the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act will have an impact beyond our borders. In December 2007, participants in the historic global summit on organizing told members of Congress the anti-worker atmosphere created in the United States by unscrupulous employers and advanced by the Bush administration systematically denies workers their rights, especially the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively.

A report released at the summit showed the United States has the lowest rate of union membership among developed nations and that anti-union tactics are being exported to other countries.

This export of anti-worker sentiment by U.S. employers has spurred the global union movement to support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. On the Global Unions website, Anita Normark, general secretary of the Geneva-based Building and Woodworkers International, says:

We know from experience that, without explicit provisions, the dominant American anti-union corporate culture will prevail. It is the job of governments to protect human rights. And, the United States government is not doing its job.