Workers’ Rights Are Human Rights: 60,000 Union Members Take to the Nation’s Streets

In cities stretching from Dayton, Ohio, to Oakland, Calif., from Houston to Boston and Seattle to Washington, D.C., thousands of CWA members took part in the biggest mobilization of workers in years during the week leading to Dec. 10, 2005 — International Human Rights Day.

The rallies, marches, teach-ins and other events, drawing an estimated 60,000 union members across the country, put a spotlight on the erosion of workers' rights to form unions and bargain contracts in the United States. At many events workers told their stories of being threatened, harassed and even fired, and then discovering how little recourse they have in today's political environment.

CWA President Larry Cohen, speaking at a rally of 3,000 embattled Delphi workers and their supporters in Dayton, told the crowd that workers' rights are human rights, and are fundamental to a democracy.

"This is the oldest democracy in the world and we're not going to stand by and watch democracy be shut down," Cohen said.

The rallies coincided with International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, the 57th anniversary of the United Nation's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The exhaustive document specifies that all workers must have the right to form and join unions.

But in the United States, state and federal laws and policies, anti-worker appointments to the courts and the National Labor Relations Board and the long waits workers endure at the NLRB in their fight for justice have combined to turn a fundamental right into a struggle for millions of workers.

"America used to stand proud before the world as a land where the right of working people to have a union was respected. But today, that right has been destroyed," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson said as 3,000 workers in Washington prepared to march to the White House on Dec. 8. "The right-wing politicians cut back the law to just about nothing, and the corporations trample on workers' freedom like it's their personal doormat."

View more pictures, read more about the dozens of events across the country and hear CWA President Larry Cohen's full speech in Dayton at ga.cwa-union.org/december10. Also visit www.aflcio.org/december10.