UNISONActive is an unofficial blog produced by UNISON activists for UNISON activists. Bringing news, briefings and events from a progressive left perspective.

Thursday 21 April 2011

New wave of US anti-union legislation violates fundamental labour rights

John Logan, writing on the Guardian Comment is Free website, looks at the underlying reasons why the ‘systematic violation of labour rights’ in the US private sector is now spreading into the public sector, where in states such as Ohio and Wisconsin collective bargaining rights have been ended:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/20/us-unions-wisconsin

‘Much of this anti-union legislation violates fundamental labour rights and International Labour Organisation – a tripartite institution composed of representatives from governments, employers and unions – must condemn it. The anti-union bills in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere by definition violate the ILO's "Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work" that states countries will work to "promote and to realise fundamental rights", the first of which is "freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining". After its adoption in 1998, the Clinton administration lauded the declaration as a "historic step" towards linking trade liberalisation with the promotion of fundamental labour rights’
http://www.ilo.org/declaration/lang--en/index.htm