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9 April, 2007
ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) Union won a decision by an ILO committee in favour of public-sector bargaining rights in the US state of North Carolina. The Freedom of Association case is now passed on to the ILO’s Governing Body with a recommendation that it monitor progress.
State statutes in North Carolina, as well as in some other US states, prohibit public employees from having collective bargaining rights. The UE, on behalf of municipal and state workers in North Carolina, filed the ILO complaint, and the committee requested that certain sections of the state statute be repealed. It also asked that the government promote the establishment of a collective bargaining framework.
The committee noted that ILO Conventions 87, 98 and 151 are being violated. “Although these Conventions have not been ratified by the United States, the complainants rely on the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in support of the argument that the government is obligated to respect, promote and realize the principles embodied in these Conventions regardless of ratification.”
The committee’s conclusions cited, “… the failure to assure compliance with freedom of association principles in North Carolina has resulted in grievous working conditions for many public sector workers who report health and safety violations in their workplace, unconscionable wages, unreasonable and unsafe hours of work, extreme under-staffing, unreasonable forced overtime, favouritism, and disrespectful treatment from supervisors, as well as inconsistent grievance procedures devoid of any notion of due process.”
The UE took the international action on behalf of members of its Local 150 in North Carolina. That branch union is comprised of low-wage, public-sector workers such as janitors, garbage haulers, housekeepers, groundskeepers, medical helpers, and bus drivers.