Human Rights Day: Labor, allies gear up for rallies

The freedom to have a union voice on the job should not be taken for granted. While workers may have the legal right to form unions to negotiate for better benefits, pay and safety standards, far too many employers routinely block their efforts to organize with threats and intimidation.

As part of International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, the labor movement is mobilizing to demand workers are guaranteed the fundamental human right to form and join unions.

At rallies, town hall meetings and teach-ins across the nation, union members and their allies—civil rights and women’s groups, environmentalists and others—will highlight the obstacles workers face when seeking to join a union, and showcase strategies for overcoming those obstacles.

Events for that day are planned for Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Los Angeles; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; St. Louis; and several other towns and cities.

International Human Rights Day commemorates the anniversary of the ratification of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which established the right of people in every nation to come together into unions and bargain contracts. The U.S. government had recognized those rights 13 years earlier with the National Labor Relations Act. But today, many workers say those rights exist only on paper.

To strengthen protections for workers’ freedom to choose a union, the union movement worked with a bipartisan coalition in creating the historic Employee Free Choice Act. Introduced in Congress in April 2005, the act
(S. 842 and H.R. 1696) would require employers to recognize a union after a majority of workers sign cards authorizing union representation. It also would provide for mediation and arbitration of first-contract disputes and authorize stronger penalties for violation of the law by employers when workers seek to form a union.

A resolution passed by the AFT executive council in October calls on the national union to “undertake an ongoing campaign to educate union members, the public and elected officials” about the Employee Free Choice Act.

AFT pressures Macedonia over attacks on union
Government efforts to undermine union is 'an affront
to democracy'

AFT representatives met with the Macedonian ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C., in October to discuss what the union says are “disturbing and continued attacks” on union leaders and members in Macedonia.

The meeting followed the AFT’s protest in September of government officials’ continued harassment of that nation’s Trade Union of Education, Science and Culture (SONK), including illegal efforts to undermine the union’s independence.

Regional government officials in Macedonia have refused to negotiate with SONK and instead are negotiating with Macedonia’s umbrella labor organization, the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (CCM), which has colluded with the government to undermine SONK, charges the AFT. CCM has no legal right to negotiate for teachers and other workers in the education and culture sectors, and SONK subsequently has disaffiliated with CCM.

During the October meeting with Macedonian Ambassador Nikola Dimitrov, AFT vice president Thomas Y. Hobart Jr. called for resumed negotiations with SONK and voiced concern that SONK members were being harassed by ruling party officials, mayors and school administrators. SONK members have been told they will lose their jobs if they remain in SONK or don’t support CCM. In addition, the union’s telephones have been cut off and its bank account frozen.

“These attacks on the rights of Macedonian workers to free association and collective bargaining are an affront to democracy,” says AFT president Edward J. McElroy. In a letter to Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, McElroy warned that “these actions on the part of your government are unacceptable” and reiterated the AFT’s support for SONK, whose leaders and members “represent the best in democratic trade unionism.”

McElroy last spring led a delegation of AFT vice presidents to Macedonia to show support for efforts by SONK to bridge the ethnic divisions that have plagued the Balkan nations. SONK’s policies supporting diversity have helped it become one of the only multi-ethnic trade unions in the region.

The repression of SONK and refusal to bargain with its leaders “clearly detracts from the perception of Macedonia as a free and democratic country,” McElroy notes.

The meeting with Dimitrov “was productive but just a first step,” says Hobart, who was joined by AFT international affairs department staffers. “Negotiations between the government and SONK must resume. We intend to continue to monitor the situation, and we are committed to supporting SONK during this difficult period.”

As part of that support, the AFT and the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center sent representatives to SONK’s national congress in Skopje in late October.