Public Employees Need Unions!

Public workers in fiscal, political bull's eye
By Sandhya Somashekhar and Krissah Thompson, The Washington Post

“From California to Pennsylvania, workers are facing efforts to sharply curtail the job security and benefits they have enjoyed for years, perks long viewed as compensation for the sometimes lower salaries in the public sector. Now, the perks that came with being a firefighter or a teacher have become a target, not only for conservative lawmakers but for Democrats under pressure to make deep cuts in government budgets.”

The shameful attack on public employees
BY ROBERT REICH, SALON

“Today it’s convenient to go after people who are doing the public’s work – sanitation workers, police officers, fire fighters, teachers, social workers, federal employees – to call them “faceless bureaucrats” and portray them as making off with your money and crippling federal and state budgets.”

In many statehouses, GOP confronts dissention 
By David A. Lieb, AP News

“Can lawmakers continue to shrink government? How much can they cut without jeopardizing services that people have come to expect, such as a quality education and a safety net for the poor and disabled?”

Public employees under scrutiny after recent elections
By TONY PUGH, McClatchy Newspapers

“And as public-sector employees retain more of the benefits that private-sector workers are losing, their compensation packages have come under scrutiny.”

Know YOUR Rights!

Your have the legal right to join and support a union and to:

• Attend meetings during non-work time to discuss joining a union
• Talk about the union whenever other non-work talk is allowed
• Read and distribute union literature as long as you do this in non-work areas during non-work times such as breaks, lunch hours or before or after work
• Sign a card or petition to show support for a union
• Ask other employees to support the union, to sign cards or petitions requesting your employer to recognize and bargain with your union

It is illegal for your employer to:

• Threaten to or actually fire, lay off, discipline, harass, transfer, or reassign employees because they support the union
• Favor employees who don’t support the union over those who do in promotions, job assignments, wages, hours, enforcement of rules or any other working condition
• Shut down the work site or take away any benefits or privileges employees already enjoy in order to discourage union activity
• Promise employees a pay increase, promotion, benefit or special favor if they oppose the union
• Ask employees if they attended a union meeting, if they support the union or any other questions about their union activity
• Refuse to deal with the union once employees vote to be reprensented

Fundamental Rights at Work

The world needs a floor of social rights. This became clear in the beginning of the 1990s with the emergence of a universal market economy, globalization and the information technology revolution. Debate intensified as it became apparent that economic growth did not guarantee social progress. Amongst several means of action by the ILO to promote a floor of social rights, is the campaign to promote fundamental principles and rights at work and the universal ratification of the eight ILO Conventions covering these principles and rights. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, adopted in 1998, aims to ensure that social progress goes hand in hand with economic progress and development. It covers four principles and rights:

• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining;
• The elimination of forced and compulsory labour;
• The elimination of discrimination in the workplace; and
• The abolition of child labour.

The fundamental rights at work constitute a central plank of decent work