Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions"

[L. Coyote]

HELLO WISCONSIN!!! Hello Republicans!!
Why hasn't the right wing heard about basic Human Rights?
Where have they been since 1948?

ARTICLE 23(4)"Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages.....

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

............

Article 23.

* (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
* (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
* (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
* (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

............

[6000eliot]

1. Sadly, I think these assholes could care less about human rights.

[L. Coyote]

10. Corporations and governments should be held accountable for their actions against human rights.

We have the power to do just that, bring justice.

[KittyWampus]

12. To these sorts, Corporation rights trump Human Rights. The corporations being the vehicle

the sociopaths use to protect themselves.

[maryf]

2. 24 and 25 too

Article 24.

* Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

^ Top
Article 25.

* (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
* (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

[L. Coyote]

3. Legal effect ... Declaration was explicitly adopted ... binding on all member states

Legal effect

While not a treaty itself, the Declaration was explicitly adopted for the purpose of defining the meaning of the words "fundamental freedoms" and "human rights" appearing in the United Nations Charter, which is binding on all member states. For this reason the Universal Declaration is a fundamental constitutive document of the United Nations. Many international lawyers, in addition, believe that the Declaration forms part of customary international law and is a powerful tool in applying diplomatic and moral pressure to governments that violate any of its articles. The 1968 United Nations International Conference on Human Rights advised that it "constitutes an obligation for the members of the international community" to all persons. The declaration has served as the foundation for two binding UN human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the principles of the Declaration are elaborated in international treaties such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and many more. The Declaration continues to be widely cited by governments, academics, advocates and constitutional courts and individual human beings who appeal to its principles for the protection of their recognised human rights.

[OHdem10]

4. Authoritarians and AutoCrats find Human Rights pesky little things.

They are very good at telling other countries about
their shortcomings on Human Rights, but you know
that American "Exceptionalism" emphasis on "Except".

added: Thank you for posting this and reminding us.

[L. Coyote]

6. Ronald Reagan pulled this out of the hat to castigate Poland. Talk about the Ironic Curtain!!

Someone tell Scott "He's no Hosni" Walker his hero Ronnie was bitching and screaming bloody murder because the Commies would not allow a Union!

[doc03]

5. Probably one of the reasons the right also hates the UN n/t

[Starry Messenger]

7. Those never seem to mean anything unless the ruling class wants to enforce them

usually somewhere other than here.

[L. Coyote]

8. They are also US Gov policy = Someone tell Hillary Clinton to give Scott Walker a call.

FROM: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/

Human Rights

The protection of fundamental human rights was a foundation stone in the establishment of the United States over 200 years ago. Since then, a central goal of U.S. foreign policy has been the promotion of respect for human rights, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United States understands that the existence of human rights helps secure the peace, deter aggression, promote the rule of law, combat crime and corruption, strengthen democracies, and prevent humanitarian crises.

Because the promotion of human rights is an important national interest, the United States seeks to:

* Hold governments accountable to their obligations under universal human rights norms and international human rights instruments;
* Promote greater respect for human rights, including freedom from torture, freedom of expression, press freedom, women's rights, children's rights, and the protection of minorities;
* Promote the rule of law, seek accountability, and change cultures of impunity;
* Assist efforts to reform and strengthen the institutional capacity of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Commission on Human Rights; and
* Coordinate human rights activities with important allies, including the EU, and regional organizations.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) applies three key principles to its work on human rights:


First, DRL strives to learn the truth and state the facts in all of its human rights investigations, reports on country conditions, speeches and votes in the UN, and asylum profiles. Each year, DRL develops, edits, and submits to Congress a 5,000-page report on human rights conditions in over 190 countries that is respected globally for its objectivity and accuracy. DRL also provides relevant information on country conditions to the Immigration and Naturalization Service and immigration judges in asylum cases.

Second, DRL takes consistent positions concerning past, present, and future abuses. With regard to past abuses, it actively promotes accountability. To stop ongoing abuses, the bureau uses an "inside-outside" approach that combines vigorous, external focus on human rights concerns (including the possibility of sanctions) with equally robust support for internal reform. To prevent future abuses, it promotes early warning and preventive diplomacy. Each year DRL ensures that human rights considerations are incorporated into U.S. military training and security assistance programs; promotes the rights of women through international campaigns for political participation and full equality; conducts high-level human rights dialogues with other governments; coordinates U.S. policy on human rights with key allies; and raises key issues and cases through diplomatic and public channels.

Third, DRL forges and maintains partnerships with organizations, governments, and multilateral institutions committed to human rights. The bureau takes advantage of multilateral fora to focus international attention on human rights problems and to seek correction. Each year, DRL provides significant technical, financial, or staff support for U.S. delegations to the annual meetings of several international human rights organizations; conducts regular consultations with Native American tribes and serves as the Secretary's principal advisor on international indigenous rights issues; maintains relations with the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights; and supports the creation of effective multilateral human rights mechanisms and institutions for accountability.

[L. Coyote]

9. Collective Bargaining is a Human Right ... Supreme Court of Canada ruled ...

http://serenityhome.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/collective-bargaining-is-a-human-right/

What we are seeing in Wisconsin and in Indiana is the attempt not to balance a budget but rather the attempt of elected officials to do the bidding of the corporations to strip the fundamental right of workers to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests. This is a violation of their human rights under the UN’s declaration of Human Rights.

In June of 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled:

“The right to bargain collectively with an employer enhances the human dignity, liberty and autonomy of workers by giving them the opportunity to influence the establishment of workplace rules and thereby gain some control over a major aspect of their lives, namely their work… Collective bargaining is not simply an instrument for pursuing external ends…rather is intrinsically valuable as an experience in self-government… Collective bargaining permits workers to achieve a form of workplace democracy and to ensure the rule of law in the workplace. Workers gain a voice to influence the establishment of rules that control a major aspect of their lives.”

While Canada’s Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the US, what its ruling does do is affirm emphatically that the right to unionize and to have collective bargaining is indeed a fundamental right as declared in the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights. It is part of what a democracy looks like for its people.

Wisconsin and Indiana are not the first states to attempt to rid collective bargaining nor would they be the first states to not have collective bargaining for their public workers, including teachers. There are five states that explicitly make collective bargaining illegal .............

[L. Coyote]

11. Human Rights Watch = US: Honor Public Workers’ Bargaining Rights

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


(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.

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[Overseas]

13. K&R and Many Thanks ! //nt

[L. Coyote]

15. Meanwhile, Walkerites are UNREC'ing this thread!

[Overseas]

20. Hard to imagine anyone would support someone who gives tax breaks to corporations and

finances those gifts for his supporters by slashing the income of his most vulnerable citizens.

Calling out "Budget Crisis!" to crush the middle class in order to offset his own corruption.

[L. Coyote]

14. European Court of Human Rights = upholds right to collective bargaining and to strike

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2009/05/articles/eu0905029i.htm


The European Court of Human Rights made two recent judgements in the cases of Demir and Baykara v. Turkey and Enerji Yapi-Yol Sen v. Turkey. The cases declare that Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights includes a right to collectively bargain and precludes a blanket ban on a right to strike.
Court upholds right to collective bargaining

Two recent rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) state that the exercise of the right to form and join trade unions includes the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike. The judgement in the first case, Demir and Baykara v. Turkey (Application No. 34503/97), was delivered on 12 November 2008. At the time when the Tum Bel Sen trade union was formed – as the union representing civil servants in Turkey – Turkish law did not permit civil service trade unionism, although a collective agreement negotiated between the union and the employer was in operation for two years before it was annulled. Demir and Baykara, representing the trade union and its members, claimed at the ECHR that the right to collectively bargain was contained within Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This article states:

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

2. No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise of these rights other than such as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on the exercise of these rights by members of the armed forces, of the police or of the administration of the State.

The ECHR noted the declaration of the right in Article 11(1) and the restrictions under Article 11(2). It held that these had to be strictly construed and that they could not impair the very essence of the right to organise. Restrictions imposed by the state thus had to be shown to be legitimate and civil servants could not be treated as ‘members of the administration of the state’. The court went on to rule that the right to collectively bargain with an employer in principle had become one of the essential elements of the right to form and join trade unions, guaranteed under Article 11.

................

[Overseas]

23. Demand Side Economics is most viable over the long term.

That's why I think other countries have been less intense about union busting than ours has. They know that unions help to maintain a population able to purchase their products.

It is amazing how long my country has persisted in promoting the mythology that Cutting Taxes for The Already Rich Creates Jobs. How can that be when hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost during the last GOP administration?

[L. Coyote]

25. "Self-interest" has to be regulated or the powerful remove money from the economy

If everyone is allowed to act in self-interest to accumulate capital, at the end of the day capital is hoarded and the economy falters. Bush's socialization of capital accumulation did just that, moved the money to the few and crashed the previous monetary order.

The most powerful economic stimulus today would be to increase the minimum wage, placing spending money in the hands of as many people as possible. That money would be spent locally on payday, and circulate through multiple hands by the next Monday.

[L. Coyote]

16. Neo-liberalism in British Columbia Education and Teachers’ Union Resistance

http://www.ucalgary.ca/iejll/vol11/poole

ABSTRACT: Since the election of the Campbell government in 2001, teachers have experienced heightened conflict with the provincial government. An analysis of the discourse and power relations between the BC Teachers' Federation (BCTF) and government reveals a neo-liberal agenda on the part of government and anti-neo-liberalism on the part of the BCTF. However, this is more than an intense disagreement about political ideology; the conflict is about the vision and purpose of K-12 public education and the meaning of professionalism.

Neo-liberalism is a political ideology grounded in an unshakeable belief in unbridled markets as the source of all benefits for a society and its citizens. Neo-liberals believe the application of market principles to the public sector will result in greater efficiency and contribute to overall economic prosperity.

Neo-liberals conceptualize education as a commodity to be bought by customers (students and parents) and sold by suppliers (schools and others). From a market perspective, schools are training grounds for future workers and consumers, as well a multi-billion dollar industry offering opportunities for profit. ......

.....

The Direct Assault on Collective Bargaining

Following the election of the Campbell government and the passage of essential service legislation in 2001, teachers found themselves with an expired contract and frustrated by lack of progress in negotiations. The BC Labour Relations Board (LRB) ruled what job action was permissible under the new essential services law, and teachers initiated limited job action. As it turned out, teachers were permitted to engage in a host of job actions that effectively disrupted schools without withdrawing instructional services. Schools remained open and teachers continued to teach, but they refused to fulfill a number of duties including supervising students outside of class, attending staff meetings, and preparing report cards-all declared non-essential services by the LRB.

In January 2002 the government ended the strike by passing legislation (Bill 27-2002 and Bill 28-2002) in a whirlwind session. The bills imposed a contract on teachers (Teachers' Collective Agreement Act, 2005) and removed from the scope of bargainable items issues such as class size and composition, staffing levels and ratios, the school calendar, and hours of instruction (Public Education Flexibility and Choice Act, 2002). In addition, the legislation led to the appointment of an arbitrator assigned to strip from the teachers' contract any clauses inconsistent with Bill 28-2002. As a result, hundreds of lines were stripped from the teachers' agreement.

Teachers, justifiably, viewed this legislation as an attack on their collective bargaining rights. The BCTF sought and received a ruling from the International Labour Organization (ILO) condemning the legislated contract as a violation of international labor standards that had been endorsed by Canada, but the Campbell government simply ignored the ruling. ....

.....

[L. Coyote]

17. Workers toppled a dictator in Egypt, but ... the Cheesehead Pharaoh of the Middle West

Workers toppled a dictator in Egypt, but might be silenced in Wisconsin
By Harold Meyerson = February 16, 2011 = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/15/AR2011021504339.html


In Egypt, workers are having a revolutionary February. In the United States, by contrast, February is shaping up as the cruelest month workers have known in decades.

The coup de grace that toppled Hosni Mubarak came after tens of thousands of Egyptian workers went on strike beginning last Tuesday. By Friday, when Egypt's military leaders apparently decided that unrest had reached the point where Mubarak had to go, the Egyptians who operate the Suez Canal and their fellow workers in steel, textile and bottling factories; in hospitals, museums and schools; and those who drive buses and trains had left their jobs to protest their conditions of employment and governance. As Jim Hoagland noted in The Post, Egypt was barreling down the path that Poland, East Germany and the Philippines had taken, the path where workers join student protesters in the streets and jointly sweep away an authoritarian regime.

But even as workers were helping topple the regime in Cairo, one state government in particular was moving to topple workers' organizations here in the United States. Last Friday, Scott Walker, Wisconsin's new Republican governor, proposed taking away most collective bargaining rights of public employees. ....

..... It's a throwback to 19th-century America, when strikes were suppressed by force of arms. Or, come to think of it, to Mubarak's Egypt or communist Poland and East Germany. .... American conservatives often profess admiration for foreign workers' bravery in protesting and undermining authoritarian regimes. Letting workers exercise their rights at home, however, threatens to undermine some of our own regimes (the Republican ones particularly), and shouldn't be permitted. Now that Wisconsin's governor has given the Guard its marching orders, we can discern a new pattern of global repressive solidarity emerging - from the chastened pharaoh of the Middle East to the cheesehead pharaoh of the Middle West.

[Overseas]

21. I am still shocked by how cruel our country has become.

I wish my Democratic legislators had not been too corrupted already to push for massive Democratic policies as soon as President Obama was inaugurated.

Millions had been bankrupted and were being evicted from their homes after the Bush Crash-- I really expected that to be enough to promote compassion and national health insurance and massive jobs programs to rebuild our national infrastructure with conservation technologies and alternative energy to help our country's long term viability.

We need alternative energies and conservation in the mix because we all know we will need to use some oil for decades to come.

But reducing the immediate profits of Big Oil seemed like more of a danger to them than more millions of our middle class being allowed to slip into poverty.

[L. Coyote]

18. Worker Rights and Collective Bargaining Advance in China

March 6, 2011 by Paul Garver
http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/worker-rights-and-collective-bargaining-advance-in-china/


At the same time that the rights of public sector workers to collective bargaining and effective union representation are under unprecedented attack in the USA, some Chinese workers are beginning to make substantial progress in achieving collective bargaining and worker rights. ... Chinese politicians and bureaucrats ... appear willing to allow modest internal labor reforms that do not directly challenge their authority. In the USA right-wing movements fueled by the wealth of billionaires and pandered to by ambitious politicians have seized upon the budget effects of the great recession caused by their own financial recklessness and greed to destroy long established rights of public employees.

............ In every nation, whether Egypt, China or the USA the struggle for worker rights and collective bargaining are crucial components of a democratic society, essential for any sustainable social and economic development. Whenever a migrant auto worker in China, textile worker in Egypt, or teacher in Wisconsin fights back in resistance to oppressive authority, she/he is striking a blow for all of us.

[L. Coyote]

19. Bargaining Rights "to eliminate collective bargaining ... violation of international law"

Greg Tarpinian = March 7, 2011 = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-tarpinian/bargaining-rights-are-hum_b_831957.html
Bargaining Rights Are Human Rights


In the focus on the fight to preserve collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere, the mass media has ignored the international and human rights significance of these battles.

Under international labor law, the right to collectively bargain is considered a fundamental human right. Legislation or executive action to eliminate collective bargaining rights is, therefore, a violation of international law.

Under the Universal Declaration of Human rights (adopted in 1948 by the United Nations), to which the United States is a signatory, the right to bargain collectively is subsumed under the rights to freedom of association and the right to organize into a trade union (Articles 20 and 23). Since the Declaration has been signed and ratified by the United States it is therefore binding on state governments through the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution (Article VI, clause 2).

The right to organize and bargain collectively is explicitly covered under International Labor Organization Convention 98 adopted in 1949. While the United States has not specifically ratified ILO Convention 98, it is bound by that Convention by virtue of its membership in the ILO, as these rights are part of the ILO charter and, therefore, stand above the individual Conventions.

A 2007 decision by the ILO sustained a complaint filed by the United Electrical Workers against the State of North Carolina for its prohibition on collective bargaining for public employees. .....

..................

[Snoutport]

22. kick it since all the recs are disappearing n/t

[L. Coyote]

24. Amazing how a thread like this gets pushed down on DU

I wonder, should I send a complaint to the TWUITW (Third World Union of Internet Trolling Workers, prounounced twee-twee)? :rofl:

[L. Coyote]

26. Ronald Reagan Lying about his Support of Unions and Collective Bargaining

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsHXJr8tqP0

Ronald Reagan kicks off his presidential campaign with a Labor Day speech at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey. Delivered 1 September 1980.

Labor Day Speech at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey
September 1, 1980

"It is fitting that on Labor Day, we meet beside the waters of New York harbor, with the eyes of Miss Liberty on our gathering ... this refuge the greatest home of freedom in history.

..... Beginning in January of 1981, American workers will once again be heeded. Their needs and values will be acted upon in Washington. I will consult with representatives of organized labor on those matters concerning the welfare of the working people of this nation. ....

.... the values inspiring those brave workers in Poland. The values that have inspired other dissidents under Communist domination. They remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost. They remind us that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. You and I must protect and preserve freedom here or it will not be passed on to our children. Today the workers in Poland are showing a new generation not how high is the price of freedom but how much it is worth that price.

====================

Of course, it was only a matter of days into the Reagan administration that his deceitful lying was revealed, but I though this quote should be aired once again.

[L. Coyote]

27. ***** Wisconsin Protest March 12 LIVE Blog *****

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x625528

[Fire Walk With Me]

28. Kick and Recommend

[cui bono]

29. KnR