U.S. law allows employers to permanently replace workers who exercise the right to strike, effectively nullifying the right. Many workers who try to form trade unions are spied on, harassed, pressured, threatened, suspended, fired, deported or otherwise victimized in reprisal for their exercise of the right to freedom of association. A culture of near-impunity has taken shape in much of U.S. labor law and practice. Any employer intent on resisting workers' self-organization can drag out legal proceedings for years, fearing little more than an order to post a written notice in the workplace promising not to repeat unlawful conduct. Many employers have come to view remedies like back pay for workers fired because of union activity as a routine cost of doing business, well worth it to get rid of organizing leaders and derail workers' organizing efforts.
Private employers are the main agents of abuse.
But international human rights law makes governments responsible for protecting vulnerable persons and groups from patterns of abuse by private actors. The United States is failing to meet this responsibility. As noted above, many groups of workers are unprotected by the law. And even when the law is applied for workers who come under its coverage, enervating delays and weak remedies invite continued violations. In 1999 more than sixteen million workers in the United States belonged to trade unions.