AFL-CIO calls for Dec. 10 Mobilization: Largest-Ever for Workers’ Rights

Working families and their allies are gearing
up for the nation’s largest-ever mobilization to
support workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain
collectively. Throughout the week of Dec. 5-10,
thousands of workers in 63 cities—and the number is
growing daily—will take the fight to restore workers’
freedom to form unions to the White House, statehouses
and front doors of employers that deny workers’ rights.

The nationwide events are part of a massive global
mobilization on Dec. 10, International Human Rights
Day, the anniversary of the 1948 ratification of the
United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which includes the freedom of workers to form unions.

Some 92 percent of private-sector U.S. employers force
workers to attend anti-union meetings by threatening
them with discipline or dismissal if they refuse and 75
percent hire anti-worker firms to fight organizing
attempts, according to an Oct. 18 report by the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions’
Annual Study of Trade Union Rights Violations.

Clyde Rucker is one of those workers. Speaking before a
crowd of more than 100 representatives of union,
community, civil rights and religious groups at a Dec.
10 Voice@Work planning meeting at the AFL-CIO’s
national office in Washington, D.C., Rucker described
how he was fired for trying to form a union.

Rucker says he was fired in April 2003 from his job as
a customer service representative at Verizon Wireless
in Laurel, Md., after he talked with workers about
forming a union with the Communications Workers of
America. He says company officials constantly watched
him and pressured him to stop pushing for a union.

"We have to fight everywhere for the right to join a
union," says Rucker. "We have to become more vigilant
and continue to speak out, Rucker says. "Corporate
injustice anywhere is a threat to workers everywhere."
Dec. 10 Actions Set for United States and Around the
Globe

Across the United States, at rallies, town hall
meetings, candlelight vigils and teach-ins , union
members and their allies will highlight the obstacles
workers face when seeking to join a union at work and
showcase strategies for the overcoming those obstacles.
In Washington, D.C., a broad-based coalition will hold
a huge rally Dec. 8 near the White House to protest the
Bush administration’s plan to take away bargaining
rights from federal workers in the Defense and Homeland
Security departments.

Workers in Boston plan to march throughout the city,
stopping at workplaces where workers are trying to form
unions, before holding a rally at the state capitol.
Teach-ins are scheduled at Georgetown University and
other colleges others across the nation to inform
students of the plight of America’s workers. In six
communities in four states, workers plan to distribute
fliers asking the public to support striking Verizon
Wireless workers.

Workers taking part in Dec. 10 actions in the United
States will be joined by workers around the world—from
countries as diverse as Bosnia, Cambodia and
Bahrain—who will hold events to support human rights,
including workers’ freedom to form unions. AFL-CIO
President John Sweeney will join hundreds of other
global union leaders in Hong Kong Dec. 10 for a rally
to coincide with the meeting of the World Trade
Organization. Employee Free Choice Act Would Strengthen
Workers’ Freedom to Join Unions

During the Voice@Work meeting, Rep. Linda Sanchez
(D-Calif.) called on community groups to press members
of Congress to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
Introduced by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, S.
842 and H.R. 1696 would strengthen protections for
workers’ freedom to choose a union by requiring
employers to recognize a union after a majority of
workers signs cards authorizing union representation.
It also would provide for mediation and arbitration of
first-contract disputes and authorize stronger
penalties for violation of the law when workers seek to
form a union.

With 204 Employee Free Choice Act co-sponsors in the
House, Sanchez says another 14 are needed to force a
vote the Republican leadership to bring the bill to the
House floor for a vote.

"Dec. 10 is about issues all over the world," AFL-CIO
Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson told the
Voice@Work meeting. "We have to be passionate and put
our hearts and bodies on the line," says
Chavez-Thompson. "Dec. 10 is the best time to do that.
On Dec. 10 all our issues come together: civil rights,
human rights and women’s rights."

"For all practical purposes, Americans have lost the
freedom to form unions," Sweeney says. "Our labor laws
are weak and so feebly enforced that...workers join the
union in spite the law." Strong Community Support for
Workers’ Struggles Form Unions

"There is lawlessness in the American workplace," says
David Bonior, chairman of the workers’ advocacy group
American Rights at Work. Many of the tactics employers
use to prevent workers from forming unions "are
perfectly legal, but they are wrong," says Bonior, who
took part in the Voice@Work meeting.

A study by Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University
found that private-sector employers illegally fire
employees for union activity in at least 25 percent of
all organizing efforts. Three in four use workers’
supervisors to pressure workers to vote against the
union. Many employers also threaten to close or move
the company if workers choose a union.

The fight for workers’ rights has drawn strong support
from community groups and political leaders. "Civil
rights are labor rights and labor rights are human
rights," says Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s
Washington office. Speaking to the Voice@Work meeting,
Shelton says the nation’s oldest civil rights group was
eager to be part of the Dec. 10 coalition. For
instance, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond recorded a public
service announcement that promotes Dec. 10,
International Human Rights Day, activities. Take Action

Tell Congress: Restore workers’ freedom to form unions.
Send a message to your U.S. senators and representative
urging them to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act.

http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/ns10262005.cfm