United States Cited As Violater Of Workers Rights

[Solidarity]

United States Cited as Violator of Workers’ Freedom to Form Unions

AFL-CIO
June 9, 2004

Global competition is destroying workers’ rights worldwide, and the United States is noted for its violations of workers’ fundamental right to form unions, according to the annual survey of trade union rights by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The report finds employers in the United States increasingly hire union-busting consultants to prevent workers from gaining a voice at work. In addition, two of every five U.S. public-sector workers are denied basic collective bargaining rights.

President Bush Refuses To Meet With International Trade Union Leaders


Meanwhile, President George W. Bush, early in June, became the first U.S. president and first head of state of any nation to refuse to meet with top union leaders of the world’s major industrial nations, known as the G-8. The labor leaders issued a joint trade union statement in advance of the G-8 summit meeting in Sea Island, Ga., June 8–10.

Previous U.S. presidents who hosted the summit—Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton—met with the labor leaders.

“President Bush has shown total disrespect for the views of millions of working people by refusing consultation before a major meeting,” says John Evans, general secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy/ns06092004.cfm