Most of them are not business owners, top managers, or highly-paid professionals. Most workers depend on their wages and salaries and on employer-sponsored health insurance, pensions and other benefits for themselves and their families. Under a wide-angle lens the American economy appears strong. In focus, though, there are alarming signals for Americans concerned about social justice and human rights. A two-tier economy and society are taking shape.
Income inequality is at historically high proportions.
Although trade unions halted a declining membership trend in 1999, slightly increasing the absolute number of workers who bargain collectively, the percentage of the workforce represented by unions did not increase. 2 Workers' freedom of association is at risk in the United States, with yet untold consequences for societal fairness. This report discusses the unfair advantage in U.S. labor law and practice ceded to employers who violate workers' exercise of the right to freedom of association, and how this imbalance results in the failure of the United States to meet international human rights standards on workers' freedom of association. International Labor Rights A widely accepted body of international norms has defined standards for workers' freedom of association. All set forth freedom of association and the right to form and join trade unions as fundamental human rights.