10/09/2012; Mike Hall
Trade unions and the 175 million workers with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) joined together Oct. 7 and called for decent jobs and respect for workers’ rights on the annual World Day for Decent Work. This year, the AFL-CIO honored the day by standing in solidarity with Hyatt hotel workers and workers at the Mexican operations of the Finnish auto parts manufacturer PKC.
Letters from AFL-CIO unions to workers mobilizing to win respect and a union voice on the job at Hyatt and PKC pledged their solidarity and support. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the letters from the unions “will tell the workers that we support their rights to organize and bargain—the only road forward for fairness and decent work and,”
show workers that they are not alone in their struggle to improve their working and living conditions and will help dispel employer lies and manipulations that often confuse and isolate workers.
In the letter to Hyatt workers who have engaged in a multi-year struggle with the hotel chain—that is now facing a global boycott by UNITEHERE and workers’ allies around the world—the unions say:
Your fight to address management abuses, unsafe working conditions and poverty wages is an inspiration to all workers who seek to build a decent life through hard work and solidarity with their co-workers….We join unions and allies in the United States and around the world to support the Global Boycott of Hyatt Hotels until the company takes satisfactory steps to respect the rights of its workers and move forward on a path of fairness and decent work.
The workers at PKC plants along the U.S./Mexico border are fighting to throw out a company-imposed union and a protection contract and replace them with a worker-led union and authentic collective bargaining. They are often threatened with plant closure and job loss if they continue the drive to win their own voice with the independent Mexican miners’ union Mineros, which is working closely with the United Steelworkers (USW) and the UAW. The message from the U.S. unions—that will be distributed to the nearly 7,000 PKC workers states:
Your efforts to build a worker-led organization with broad participation and leadership of men and women, younger and older workers, stand in stark contrast to the employer-imposed protection union that impedes your rights to independent representation and collective bargaining. We stand with you in your struggle for decent work, fair wages, workplace health and safety and an end to discrimination and sexual harassment.
Since 2008, the ITUC has been organizing the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) on Oct. 7. This is a day for mobilization all over the world: one day when all the trade unions in the world stand up for decent work. Decent work must be at the center of government actions to bring back economic growth and build a new global economy that puts people first. Learn more about World Day for Decent Work.
American Federation of Government Employees Local 704 