Workers' Rights Are Human Rights

Something is wrong when a worker is fired or discriminated against every 23 minutes in this country for exercising their freedom of association.*

By law, employers aren’t supposed to intimidate, coerce or fire employees for trying to form a union. Yet in reality, one in four employers fire pro-union employees during organizing campaigns.

Is this American democracy?

Tell President Bush America can do better.

*According to 1993-2003 NLRB Annual Reports, an average of 22,633 workers per year received backpay from their employer. The NLRB orders employers to award backpay to workers they illegally fired, demoted, laid off, suspended without pay, or denied work as a result of their union activity.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Workers' Rights Are Human Rights

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Millions of American workers struggle every day to provide for their families. But when workers join together to have a say about working conditions and job safety, they often encounter intense retaliation from their employers.

In fact, every 23 minutes a worker is fired or discriminated against in this country for union activities.

President Bush, hardworking men and women deserve better.

These violations run counter to U.S. law and international human rights standards. America has a duty to uphold and protect workers' rights to form unions and collectively bargain.

You can make a difference in the lives of American workers. Bring democracy back to the American workplace and stand up for workers' rights.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
December 09, 2004

Background Information

Why are Workers’ Rights Violations So Rampant?
In the U.S. Labor Law System, Punishments Don’t Fit the Crime

The right to form a union and collectively bargain is a basic right, recognized by U.S. federal law since 1935 and universally recognized and protected around the world. So why is it that over 20,000 workers are fired or discriminated against each year for union activities in this country?¹ One reason workers’ rights violations are so widespread is because the American labor law system offers terribly weak punishments.

American employers face no effective reprisals for violating workers’ rights.

A Slap on the Wrist: If an employer is found guilty of violating labor law, the typical remedy is ordering the employer to post a notice in the workplace promising not to break the law.
No Punitive Damages: Employers that illegally fire workers for union activity are not required to pay fines or damages. The law just requires a worker’s lost earnings to be repaid, minus whatever amount the worker earned in the interim.
Bargain Prices: In 2003, the average “backpay” award for a worker was $3,800.²Human Rights Watch has assessed that employers are aware that an order to pay backpay is a “small price to pay to destroy a workers’ organizing effort by firing its leaders.”³
No Three-Strikes Law: Repeat violations can continue indefinitely because the NLRA does not provide for tougher penalties for repeat violators, in contrast to OSHA, EPA and other governmental agencies.
Technicalities: The government turns a blind eye to behavior undermining the intention of the law. 75% of employers hire consultants during organizing drives.⁴These “unionbusting” consultants help companies implement legal tactics to thwart workers’ rights to organize without technically breaking the law.

More Resources

View our new Fired Workers Ticker—counting in real time, the number of workers fired or discriminated against for their union support.
View fact sheets and materials about the failure of U.S. labor law to protect workers’ rights to organize and bargain.
Learn more about the Employee Free Choice Act—federal legislation that will help fix the broken process through which workers form unions.
Sign-up to receive an email alert when the next monthly edition of our series on labor law’s failure, Workers' Rights Watch: Eye on the NLRB, is published.

Citations

1. According to 1993-2003 NLRB Annual Reports, an average of 22,633 workers per year received backpay from their employer. The NLRB orders employers to award backpay to workers they illegally fired, demoted, laid off, suspended without pay, or denied work as a result of their union activity.
2. Sixty-Eighth Annual Report of the National Labor Relations Board, 2003.
3. Human Rights Watch, “Unfair Advantage: Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States Under International Human Rights Standards," 2000.
4. Kate Bronfenbrenner, “Uneasy Terrain: The Impact of Capital Mobility on Workers, Wages and Union Organizing,” U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission, 2000.