U.S. lawmakers should back a proposed law to strengthen protections for workers’ right to organize, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to members of the U.S. Congress.
“On this International Human Rights Day, thousands of workers are rallying across the United States because they cannot exercise a basic human right: the right to freedom of association,” said Carol Pier, labor rights and trade researcher for Human Rights Watch. “Congress should take notice and fix this shameful problem.”
Human Rights Watch has extensively documented the systematic abuse of workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively in the United States. (Report available at https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/uslabor/). U.S. labor laws contain weak penalties, are riddled with loopholes, and are not effectively enforced. The Employee Free Choice Act of 2003, introduced in both houses of Congress on November 21, would remedy some of the major shortcomings in existing law.
Passage of the bill would provide relief for the thousands of workers stuck in negotiations with employers who bargain in bad faith, year after year, with no intention of ever reaching agreements. These workers would be able to seek mediation and then arbitration, leading to binding contracts. Currently, the only remedy for such illegal behavior by employers is still more bargaining, trapping workers in fruitless negotiations that lead nowhere.
The proposed law would also strengthen remedies for illegal anti-union conduct during organizing drives and negotiation of initial union contracts. Penalties now are so minor that employers treat them as a cost of doing business—a small price to pay for a union-free workplace.
“Employers violate workers’ right to freedom of association, knowing they’ll face few, if any, consequences,” said Pier. “This bill would finally make them think twice before breaking the law.”
Under the Employee Free Choice Act of 2003, workers would also be able to choose between two options for gaining union recognition—a card check or the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process. Anti-union conduct is rampant during union election campaigns, often making elections coercive and hostile rather than free and fair. Workers can try to avoid such elections by asking that their employer recognize their union based on signed worker authorizations—a card check. But employers can, and often do, refuse. Under the proposal, if the NLRB authorized the results of the card check, employers would have to accept them. In this new system, workers’ chances of freely exercising their right to freedom of association would increase dramatically.
“It’s high time the United States showed the world that its professed support for workers’ human rights is not empty rhetoric but official policy,” said Pier. “Passing this bill would be an important first step.”
