The AFL-CIO has issued the following news release:Global Labor Leaders Stress Workers' Freedom to Join Unions to Congress
Leaders Tell Congress Employee Free Choice is Critical for Workers Worldwide
(Washington, December 11) - Labor leaders from the U.S. and around the world told members of Congress Tuesday at a special congressional forum on Capitol Hill that restoring workers' freedom to form and join unions in the U.S. is critical to workers' rights around the world. The forum concluded a historic two-day conference, "Going Global: Organizing, Recognition and Union Rights," which was sponsored by the Council of Global Unions (CGU) and hosted by the AFL-CIO at the National Labor College.
"In an age of rampant global corporate outlaws, the world's workers must forge new alliances to defend their democratic freedom to come together in unions to improve their lives," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. "When workers are free to exercise their right to bargain collectively, everyone benefits. Wages increase, inequality decreases, and democracy is strengthened. And when workers' freedom to form unions is thwarted, standards of living plummet."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who opened the congressional forum, said workers' freedom to join unions is a basic right that must be protected. Pelosi said global cooperation among workers and trade unions is key to bolstering the middle class worldwide.
"This historic conference is essential to protecting and strengthening the rights of workers as the world grows increasingly interdependent and national boundaries become less relevant," Pelosi said. "Out of this forum will come the ideas and solutions that will help win collective bargaining rights and other labor protections that are essential to building vital democracies and strong middle-class communities throughout the world."
Global labor leaders echoed that theme and said when workers are truly able to exercise their freedom to join unions and bargain collectively, everyone benefits, not just the rich.
"We reject an economic model that impoverishes workers while the very few get wealthy," said Sharan Burrow, President of the International Trade Union Confederation, which represents 168 million workers worldwide.
Trade union leaders discussed why respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining is crucial to the survival of human rights and democracy around the world. The global labor leaders urged for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the United States because it is vital to their own effort to achieve full organizing and bargaining rights in their own countries and with multinational companies.
"Today, collective bargaining rights have expanded throughout much of the world," said Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen. "In the United States, however, we're going in the wrong direction. Labor law here is broken, to the point that bargaining and organizing rights in the United States are inferior to virtually every other democracy, including newly emerging democracies like South Africa, Taiwan and Brazil."
Two panels composed of labor leaders and workers presented testimony to members of Congress outlining the various hurdles workers' face when trying to form and join unions and bargain collectively. Senator Edward Kennedy, presiding over the first panel, "U.S. Crisis in Collective Bargaining," focused on the badly broken labor law system in the U.S.
"Unions are leading the way to reform our labor laws," Kennedy said. "We're battling to enact the Employee Free Choice Act so that whenever a majority of workers wants a union, they can form one without fear of retribution, delay or harassment."
Two workers who have struggled to overcome the enormous hurdle workers face when trying to form unions shared their stories with Kennedy and other members of Congress. John Lindner, a technician with Verizon Business in New York, said he and his co-workers have been repeatedly harassed and discriminated against simply for exercising their right to join the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Kelly Beringer, a registered nurse from Chicago, told the members she has faced retaliation from her employer - Resurrection Health Care -- for trying to join AFSCME Council 31.
"In real terms, there are no consequences to violating the National Labor Relations Act," she said. "Every day in the United States, companies like Resurrection simply violate the law."
The second panel chaired by Rep. George Miller, "Global Organizing and Bargaining Rights" focused on the importance of labor law reform in the U.S. to workers' rights worldwide.
Dr. John Logan of the London School of Economics told members of Congress that the number one reason the U.S. lags behind most industrial nations in the percentage of the workforce that belongs to unions is because U.S. labor law makes it extraordinarily difficult for workers to join or form unions. He said the erosion of workers' rights in the U.S. is being felt all across the world and, as a result, many other nations are experiencing declines in union density.
The conference and forum marked the first time this number of trade union leaders from around the globe have gathered to develop ideas and strategies to combat corporations' and governments' efforts to suppress workers' freedom to form and join unions, enhance cooperation among trade unions across borders and better represent workers in a global economy. As part of the conference, global labor leaders engaged in a unique "town hall" process in which they developed specific strategies and shared techniques to build and support organizing efforts across borders. At the conclusion of the conference, global labor leaders vowed to implement new and aggressive strategies to protect workers' rights around the world while strengthening and unifying the global labor movement.
"We came here to pledge solidarity with our sisters and brothers for what we regard as human rights," said Randall Howard, General Secretary of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union. "Trade union rights are human rights."
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