News

An ill informed and misguided attack on American trade unions by the Financial Times on August 27th provoked the following reply from UNI Deputy General Secretary (DGS) Philip Bowyer.



Clive Crook (FT Correspondent in USA) has not spent too much of his short time in the USA studying or trying to understand the world of work. If he had, he could never written that current legislation protects workers from intimidation.



Employers in the USA in hundreds of cases each year exploit existing legislation and use the delay before secret ballots to frighten workers from joining unions. Research from Cornell University shows that :

• Over 90% of employers when faced with employees who want to join a union force them into closed door meetings to hear anti union propaganda;
  
• 80% give supervisors training on attacking unions;
  
• 75% hire union busting legal firms to run anti union campaigns;
  
• 50% threaten to close down their businesses if employees join a union
  
• In 25 percent of organising campaigns employers illegally fire workers for wanting to join a union.

Yes there is widespread intimidation during organising campaigns in the USA but it is the employers who are intimidating their workers. The current legislation which allows employers to get away with this kind of action is a disgrace to a democracy.



Its a pity the FT correspondent did not take a little more time to research his article rather than just regurgitating the propaganda of those who make a living out of attacking trade unions.