The U.S. government’s decision to ease restrictions on U.S. investments in Burma is “premature and poorly thought through,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Lifting investment sanctions on a nation where forced labor and other human rights violations continue may, says Trumka:

undermine progress toward political reforms in Burma, rather than encourage movement toward democracy.

Even if workers are not in a union, they have the right to act together to improve their working conditions and for other mutual aid and protection. A new website by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) explains those rights and tells workers how to contact the nearest NLRB office if they have questions or believe their rights have been violated.

Today, the United States Trade Representative announced that Mexico will be invited to join the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP).  Although the U.S. already has extensive trade relations with Mexico through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says. Mexico’s inclusion in the TPP could have significant impacts on workers in both countries.

Although corporations are now investing in Burma, opportunities for economic growth must be balanced with protections for working people, Burmese political opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said last week. Speaking at the International Labor Organization (ILO) Conference in Geneva, Suu Kyi was joined by U Maung Maung, general secretary of the General Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), who spoke about the long struggle for freedom of association and the freedom to organize in Burma.

Do workers with a union contract behave more ethically on the job by being more likely to report wrongdoing? That’s one conclusion from a new report by the Ethics Resource Center (ERC)—"Inside the Mind of a Whistleblower." Union employees, who are often provided certain contractual protections, had much higher rates of reporting specific misconduct than nonunion employees (65 percent vs. 47 percent).

The 2012 ILO Annual Conference is under way in Geneva, Switzerland, and representatives of employers have blocked discussion of some of the worst cases of workers' rights violations. The conference usually brings up the most serious cases from the annual report of the ILO’s Committee of Experts, a 17-member committee of eminent international jurists and legal scholars. But this year, the Employers Group has used procedural maneuvers to block discussion of any cases.

The Main Street Moment: Fighting Back to Save the American Dream, a new book by AFSCME President Gerald McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders, examines the recent unprecedented attacks on workers’ rights, growing income inequality and how everyday people are fighting back against the 1%.

Blake Poindexter is a former T-Mobile USA worker who had worked in a call center in Frisco, Texas, before the company announced in March it would close that center along with six others. Last week, he urged Deutsche Telekom CEO René Obermann to respect T-Mobile USA workers’ right to join together in a union and stop the company’s harassment of workers.

WI

This is a cross-post from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO by Machinists (IAM) member Jerome Schiek, who is supporting Tom Barrett and Mahlon Mitchell in the June 5 recall election.  

Brothers and Sisters:

I am not going to mince any words nor beat around the bush. Here it is. We got caught sleeping. In 2010, we were asleep. No guilt. No shame. We all had a lot on our plates. We were asleep and maybe just a bit complacent. Not anymore.

The U.S. government will investigate charges that the government of Honduras has failed to address “repeated and well-documented violations of workers' rights.” Those charges were made in a petition filed in March by the AFL-CIO and major Honduran trade unions with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA).