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AFL-CIO Poll Shows Employees Overestimate Their Rights at Work
If you believe in gun control and your boss doesn’t, could you be fired for airing your views? Can your supervisor listen in on your personal phone calls? Can a would-be employer demand genetic tests, then refuse to hire you if you’re at risk for health problems?
Chances are, you answered “no” to each question. So did a majority of workers surveyed in an exhaustive workers’ rights study commissioned recently by the AFL-CIO.
But the fact is that private employers can fire you for your political views. As for genetic testing, only six states have laws banning employers from requiring it. And federal law allows companies to monitor work-related phone calls, and to listen long enough to all calls to determine whether they’re about business.
“One of the most startling things we learned through this survey is that employees are vastly overestimating the protection they have on the job under the law,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. “Only through collective bargaining are we able to deal with the law’s many failings when it comes to workers’ rights.”
The survey, “Workers’ Rights in America: What Workers Think About Their Jobs and Employers,” was conducted by the research firm of Peter D. Hart. Researchers interviewed 1,792 workers across the country. They included 307 African Americans, 289 Latinos, 164 Asians, 210 high-tech workers and 320 union members.
Although respondents overestimated their job rights, two out of three said their rights at work need more protection. And nearly as many said they don’t trust their employers to treat them fairly.
Among the survey’s key findings:
Six in 10 workers said an employer has to provide sick leave, but that’s another protection guaranteed only by union contracts, not law. Another 64 percent said an employer can’t fire a worker without good reason, and 55 percent employers can’t monitor them with cameras or tape recorders. Respondents were wrong on both counts.
But they were right on two essential questions: 91 percent said that employers cannot base hiring on race and 80 percent said workers can’t be fired for supporting a union.
By overwhelming numbers — more than 90 percent — respondents said having a safe and healthy workplace, being treated with respect by your employer, having family leave time and sick leave are essential or very important rights. Privacy issues also were a concern: 82 percent said personal privacy must be respected. Asked whether they feel such rights are respected, 41 percent gave their employer a grade of C, D, or F.
“Amid reports of a changing economy, some may wonder whether workers care about basic workplace rights today,’” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. “These findings put that question to rest. American workers fervently support rights to protect economic security, equal opportunity and reasonable working conditions but they see real gaps. This study sounds an alarm about persistent discrimination and declining levels of trust in employers.”
Chances are, you answered “no” to each question. So did a majority of workers surveyed in an exhaustive workers’ rights study commissioned recently by the AFL-CIO.
But the fact is that private employers can fire you for your political views. As for genetic testing, only six states have laws banning employers from requiring it. And federal law allows companies to monitor work-related phone calls, and to listen long enough to all calls to determine whether they’re about business.
“One of the most startling things we learned through this survey is that employees are vastly overestimating the protection they have on the job under the law,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. “Only through collective bargaining are we able to deal with the law’s many failings when it comes to workers’ rights.”
The survey, “Workers’ Rights in America: What Workers Think About Their Jobs and Employers,” was conducted by the research firm of Peter D. Hart. Researchers interviewed 1,792 workers across the country. They included 307 African Americans, 289 Latinos, 164 Asians, 210 high-tech workers and 320 union members.
Although respondents overestimated their job rights, two out of three said their rights at work need more protection. And nearly as many said they don’t trust their employers to treat them fairly.
Among the survey’s key findings:
- 68 percent say it is “essential” or “very important” to protect the right of workers to join a union.
- 56 percent say new laws are needed to hold corporations to a higher standard of responsibility in how they treat workers.
- 47 percent of African Americans report job discrimination, along with 30 percent of Latinos and 24 percent of Asians.
- 23 percent of women say they have been sexually harassed at work. Three-fourths of women say they face a “glass ceiling” that limits their advancement.
- 57 percent — up 10 percentage points since a similar survey in 1996 — say management has too much power relative to workers.
Six in 10 workers said an employer has to provide sick leave, but that’s another protection guaranteed only by union contracts, not law. Another 64 percent said an employer can’t fire a worker without good reason, and 55 percent employers can’t monitor them with cameras or tape recorders. Respondents were wrong on both counts.
But they were right on two essential questions: 91 percent said that employers cannot base hiring on race and 80 percent said workers can’t be fired for supporting a union.
By overwhelming numbers — more than 90 percent — respondents said having a safe and healthy workplace, being treated with respect by your employer, having family leave time and sick leave are essential or very important rights. Privacy issues also were a concern: 82 percent said personal privacy must be respected. Asked whether they feel such rights are respected, 41 percent gave their employer a grade of C, D, or F.
“Amid reports of a changing economy, some may wonder whether workers care about basic workplace rights today,’” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. “These findings put that question to rest. American workers fervently support rights to protect economic security, equal opportunity and reasonable working conditions but they see real gaps. This study sounds an alarm about persistent discrimination and declining levels of trust in employers.”