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SUPPORT THE FREEDOM TO FORM UNIONS ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
The freedom to have a union voice on the job will be the focus of this year’s International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10.
The day commemorates the anniversary of the ratification of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which established the right of people in every nation to form unions and bargain contracts.
The U.S. government recognized those rights with the National Labor Relations Act. But today, many observers, from activists to scholars, say those rights exist only on paper. While workers have the legal right to form unions to negotiate for better benefits, pay and safety standards, their efforts are routinely blocked by employers who use threats, coercion and intimidation to deter them.
To strengthen protections for workers’ freedom to choose a union, the labor movement worked with a bipartisan coalition to draw up the Employee Free Choice Act, which was introduced into Congress last April. The measure 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 violations of the law when workers seek to form a union.
There will be rallies, town hall meetings and teach-ins across the world, in which union members and others will focus on strategies to overcome the obstacles workers face when seeking to join a union.
The AFL-CIO has made a Voice@Work tool kit available for union locals to plan International Human Rights Day events. For details, visit www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/d10.cfm.
CENTER TO FOCUS ON ELIMINATING MEDICAL ERRORS WORLDWIDE
The World Health Organization (WHO) has partnered with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the Joint Commission International to launch a center focusing on patient safety. The goal is to reduce the number of serious medical injuries around the world each day. The collaboration will call attention to patient safety and best practices that can reduce risks to patients, as well as coordinate efforts to share these solutions.
“Patient safety is a worldwide problem affecting countries both rich and poor,” says Mirta Roses, regional director of the WHO office for the Americas. “The center will help to ensure that all countries can benefit from international work on solutions to patient safety problems.”
Visit www.jcipatientsafety.org for more information on the center.
STUDY LINKS LONG WORKING HOURS TO INCREASED RISK OF INJURY, ILLNESS
A growing body of evidence suggests that working long hours adversely affects the health and well-being of workers, the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports in its September issue.Jobs with schedules that routinely involve working overtime or extended hours increase the risk of an occupational injury or illness, the report says.
“The results of the survey suggest that special attention needs to be paid to establishing protective measures for people working overtime,” the report concludes.
The journal offers strategies or protective approaches that can prevent injuries. These include periodic safety inspections; changes in work organization, such as rest breaks or redesigning processes to avoid overtime; and employer-sponsored health programs that educate staff about ergonomic redesign and the risks of long schedules. To read this article, visit http://oem.bmjjournals.com.
PROFESSIONALS: THE NEW UNION WORKERS, SAYS WSJ
Many of the fastest growing unions in the United States represent white-collar professionals, including physicians, nuclear engineers, psychologists and judges, says an article in the Sept. 27, 2005, edition of the Wall Street Journal.The article, “The New Union Worker,” notes that “the growth of white-collar unions says much about the precarious nature of jobs of all types in the current economy. Decaying job security and benefits and the effects of global trade on labor costs all have begun to reach into the ranks of professional workers.”
Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., notes that “professionals join unions because they feel that their work is being devalued. Many of these workers had good pensions and good benefits, and they don’t anymore.” In addition, the article notes that many professionals rely on their unions’ political influence to help shape legislation affecting their professions.
