Employee Free Choice: A Positive Change for U.S. Labor Law
 |
|
The Employee Free Choice Act, introduced in the U.S. House and Senate on Tuesday, would represent a critical change to the nation’s labor law. It’s a serious reform that would repair a broken system that is badly tilted away from workers.
Yesterday at the National Press Club, experts on the process got a chance to discuss what the Employee Free Choice Act would mean for workers, for management and for the economy, in a discussion hosted by the American Constitution Society (ACS). The panelists included Julie Martinez Ortega, research director of American Rights at Work; Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research; management lawyer Willis Goldsmith; and Carol Piel, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Martinez Ortega put the case for passing the Employee Free Choice Act this way:
This is ultimately about what individual workers want to do to improve their workplace. If we can’t give people the tools to do that, there’s a problem.
Human Rights Watch: Employee Free Choice Is a Human Right
Under current labor law, the United States is strikingly deficient in protecting freedom of association and the freedom to form unions, says a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), an independent human-rights advocacy group. The solution? Congress must pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
In a new report, The Employee Free Choice Act: A Human Rights Imperative, HRW lays out the case for its quick passage to restore workers’ freedom to form unions without fear of harassment, coercion or termination. The report is part of HRW’s critical work as watchdogs for human rights, the freedom of association and the treatment of workers from Colombia to India and around the world.
The report analyzes international labor standards the United States has agreed to by treaty, points out where it’s deficient in meeting those standards and explains how the Employee Free Choice will remedy the situation and restore workers’ fundamental freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.
Human Rights Watch Confirms Colombia Not Ready for Trade Deal with U.S.
 |
|
Despite the Bush administration’s repeated attempts to push through Congress a U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) this year, the reality is that Colombia has not stemmed the violence against trade unionists or brought those responsible to justice.
In short, Colombia has a long way to go before a free trade pact should be considered.
The head of Human Rights Watch recently wrote three top House leaders urging them to remain steadfast in insisting that Colombia clean up its act before approving any new trade deal. In the letter, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth says:
Free trade should be premised on fundamental respect for human rights, especially the rights of the workers producing the goods to be traded. In Colombia, workers cannot exercise their rights without fear of being threatened or killed.
