:: rawblogXport ::

:: Thursday, December 18, 2003 ::

A nation of hypocrites on labor rights By JULIUS GETMAN and F. RAY MARSHALL
The rights of workers to organize, to strike and to bargain collectively are essential attributes of human liberty, recognized as such by treaties, court opinions, papal encyclicals, government officials and every major international rights treaty. One is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the United States ratified in 1992 but has done little to implement.

Bush administration officials do not dispute the importance of these rights. They would probably even agree that sustainable growth and political and social stability all require free and democratic labor movements. They claim that worker rights are adequately protected and recognized in the United States. After all, our basic labor statute, the National Labor Relations Act, sets forth that workers have ''the right to self organization, to form, join or assist labor organizations to bargain collectively . . . and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.'' It also makes interfering with these rights an unfair labor practice.

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