|
The following letter to the editor was published in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Defender the week of December 10, 2007: This week marks the 59th year since the signing of the International Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration protects such important human rights as freedom of speech, assembly and religion. It also states that “everyone has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.” Sixty million workers in the United States say they would join a union today to bargain for a better deal if they had the chance.
But many will never get the chance because the system for forming unions in our country is broken. Employers routinely harass, coerce and even fire workers who try to form unions. What’s more, the Bush Labor Board has taken every opportunity to roll back workers’ rights and make it harder for workers to form unions to bargain better wages, health care, and working conditions. In the U.S., where we should be setting the standards, we are falling behind. America’s workers rank lower on measure after measure than workers in many other industrialized nations, according to a new study by the London School of Economics. We have less paid leave, less vacation and we work even more hours than workers in Japan. As workers continue to fall behind, the need for unions to help strengthen the middle class grows. That’s why we need the Employee Free Choice Act to restore the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Around the U.S., and even here in Chicago, workers’ rights to bargain collectively are thwarted by employers who have made union-busting a multi-million dollar industry. This week, members of the Chicago City Council will announce a resolution on health care workers’ rights calling on area hospitals to refrain from anti-union campaigns and to engage in a dialogue with workers who want to form a union at work. Despite a major health care worker shortage, many area hospitals, including nonprofits, engage in anti-union campaigns to prevent workers from exercising their rights to bargain collectively for better working conditions. One of the best ways to recruit and retain qualified staff in any industry, not just health care, is by improving working conditions and gaining an empowered voice on the job—all things that union membership brings. With the ever widening income gap and the shrinking middle class in America, working men and women need the freedom to exercise their right to form unions now more than ever. Dennis J. Gannon President Chicago Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO |
