Ghana’s Union Movement Joins Call for Employee Free Choice Act

by Seth Michaels, Jul 13, 2009

With President Obama visiting Ghana this weekend, unions in that nation asked him to support workers’ freedom to form unions around the world.

The Ghana Federation of Labor (GFL) joined with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) for a July 7-8 conference on union rights around the world, with a focus on the Employee Free Choice Act, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the role of U.S. labor law in setting standards for the world.

These international unions are concerned about the rise of U.S. union-busting firms and the spread of union-busting tactics around the world, as well as U.S. firms creating downward wage pressures and corporate-dominated global institutions forcing development models on nations around the world that put profits ahead of workers.

Here’s the statement from the conference of the GFL and ITUC: 

Violations of trade union rights occurring in Africa are influenced by the anti-union practices, especially in the U.S.A., where workers are deprived their fundamental rights to organize and bargaining collectively.

Strangely, the U.S.A. has not yet ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98 concerning freedom of association and the right of workers to bargaining collectively. This is an indictment on the image of the U.S.A. as a founding member of the ILO. 

Global unions have been calling for stronger labor laws, because anti-worker sentiment affects workers everywhere, as discussed at the 2007 global organizing summit and many meetings since.

Check out the many members of the global union community who have come out in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

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