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12 December, 2005
US affiliate United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers (UE) used International Human Rights Day to remind us all that the United States has not ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
The union sent a delegation to the North Carolina state governor with a complaint on a state statute that supports the US position of non-ratification. The statute grants state employees with the right to unionise, but denies collective bargaining. The union is also taking the matter before the ILO’s Public Sector Workers’ conference committee. The US has also not ratified ILO Convention 151, granting public employees the right to organise and setting conditions of employment in the public sector.
UE Local 150 counts as members many public employees across North Carolina. UE members from six US states and supporters from three countries delivered the complaint to North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley on 9 December.