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UNI Global Union today welcomed the introduction of legislation into the US House of Representatives and Senate that would allow workers to join unions without fear of management retaliation and pledged its support to a worldwide solidarity campaign.



“This is key legislation that will give American workers freedom from fear when it comes to organising. The depth and viciousness of union-busting tactics in the United States are unconscionable.” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “The Employee Free Choice Act will let workers stand together in the US to improve their lives and working conditions. It will also set an example that will help raise working conditions globally.”



Jennings said that UNI will be mobilising its 20 million members worldwide in a solidarity campaign to support the work of its US member unions, who have been part of a grass-roots movement of workers, labour unions, community, religious, environmental and progressive groups supporting the bill.



UNI believes that having a law that protects workers’ right to unionise in the United States is vital to winning union recognition and bargaining rights world-wide. American companies have been exporting their abusive labour practices to every country they do business in and foreign companies have eagerly embraced those practices when they cross the US border. It is clear that without legislation protecting workers, multinational companies will treat workers as poorly as they can.



“When it becomes law, the Employee Free Choice Act would be a huge boon to working people and turn the tide of anti-union, anti-worker attacks that have been stock in trade for many US companies who have used every tactic at their disposal to intimidate workers who want to unionise and driven down union representation levels even as workers have seen their pay shrink, their healthcare erode and their working hours increase,” said UNI President and UFCW President Joe Hansen.



When passed, the Employee Free Choice Act would give US workers a free and fair chance to form a union, hold anti-union employers accountable and force employers to stop dragging out contract negotiations.



In the US, currently workers have to win a representation election against

their own management as part of the recognition process. Employers can

recognize instead based on majority sign up but it is up to them.



"Employee Free Choice is about restoring private sector bargaining rights in the US that have been stripped away over the past 40 years. Majority sign up as the basis for union recognition is the global

standard,” said Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen. “This legislation would even the terms of recognition so that workers could sign up a majority and then be recognized to bargain collectively.”



President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Labour Secretary Hilda Solis all support the Employee Free Choice Act. The first hurdle may be getting 60 US Senators to vote for “cloture” or an end to debate on the bill and a formal vote.



The US Chamber of Commerce and other corporate lobbying groups have spent millions of dollars trying to persuade Senators and Representatives—both Republican and Democrat-- to vote against the bill.