US: Honor Public Workers’ Bargaining Rights

US: Honor Public Workers’ Bargaining Rights

(Washington, DC) - Proposals in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and other states to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights violate international labor rights standards, Human Rights Watch said today.

"There are real financial constraints on states, but that is no excuse to seek to eliminate fundamental rights," said Alison Parker, US Program director at Human Rights Watch. "State governments can negotiate cost savings with workers without violating their rights in the process."

International law on the right to bargain collectively applies in both private and public workplaces. The United States championed the International Labor Organization's 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, under which the US pledged "to promote and to realize ... fundamental rights" defined in the declaration, the first of which is "freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining."

The United States is also a party to and bound by its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees everyone the right to protect his or her interests through trade union activity. As the Human Rights Committee has made clear on multiple occasions, that includes collective bargaining. Denying the right to collective bargaining would violate this international treaty, Human Rights Watch said.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/02/25/us-honor-public-workers-bargaining-rights