By Laureen Lazarovici

Ora Lee Dortche, who works at a paper mill outside New Haven, Conn.,  says managers don’t treat workers with much respect these days.  Sometimes when women workers take a bathroom break, “the boss comes and knocks on the door,” rushing them to get back to work.  “There is no respect,” says Dortche,  a member of PACE International Union Local 1-745.  “There should be more laws to protect workers.”

Dortche is not alone.  A new survey shows that fully 68 percent of workers say workplace rights need more protection.  Employers inspire little or no trust among two-thirds of workers.  So it’s no surprise that 56 percent of workers say new laws are needed to hold corporations accountable for the way they treat employees—up sharply from just a few years ago.  These are among the findings of a new national poll, “Workers’ Rights in America,” by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO.  The survey illustrates that as workers celebrate Labor Day this year, they are sending a strong message to corporations and elected officials: Respect our rights at work.

There’s a stark difference between the importance workers place on rights in the workplace and how they say employers are treating those rights. Workers are nearly unanimous in their support for rights that protect economic security, equal opportunity and reasonable working conditions. Upwards of 80 percent of respondents say they should be able to earn a decent wage, work free from discrimination and harassment and have at least some degree of privacy on the job.

But if employers were children coming home from school with report cards, many of their parents would not be very happy. One-third to one-half of workers give employers mediocre to failing grades on key worker protections. In a pair of alarming findings, almost half of black workers say they have experienced workplace discrimination based on race, and nearly a quarter of women say they have been sexually harassed on the job.

	On the job: preschool teacher Jenni Sprague says management "has way too much power."

Such first-hand experiences contribute to a simmering sense of dissatisfaction and workers’ widespread view that corporations have too much power. As activists help workers form unions and build partnerships with community groups and elected officials, they can rely on the knowledge that a large majority of the American workforce wants more to be done to uphold rights at work.

Workers crave rights on the job—but many say workers aren’t getting them

Workers crave basic rights on the job, but large percentages say workers are not getting those rights. This frustration exists even though more than half those surveyed express economic optimism (54 percent rate their own financial situation as good or excellent). Fully 87 percent of workers say the right to a living wage that provides a full-time worker an income above the poverty line is an essential or very important right to protect. But more than half grade employers with a C, D or F when it comes to protecting this right.

And while 85 percent say workers should have job security unless there is a good cause for termination, four in 10 give employers poor grades on that count. “When you go to work, you ought to be able to expect that if you do a good job, you won’t get fired. That’s just being fair,” says a store clerk from California.

The contrast is much the same for a wide range of workers’ rights:

• Nearly everyone surveyed—98 percent—says a safe and healthy workplace is an essential or very important right, but almost one-third give employers mediocre to failing grades on protecting this right.
• Eighty-one percent say the right to training and assistance if one’s job moves to another country is essential or very important, although 45 percent rate employers poorly on upholding this right.
• An overwhelming 94 percent say it is essential or very important that employers treat workers with respect, but 37 percent say employers aren’t doing a good job at this.
• While 82 percent say privacy on the job is an essential or very important right, 41 percent rate employers poorly on protecting this right. A recent survey from the American Management Association found the percentage of U.S. firms that record and review employee communications and activities on the job—including phone calls, e-mail, Internet connections and computer files—has doubled to 78 percent since 1997.

Workers find discrimination, sexual harassment at work

When it comes to equal opportunity—the right to equal treatment regardless of race or ethnicity, the right not to be sexually harassed, the right to equal pay and advancement for working women—nearly 100 percent of workers from every demographic group say these are essential or very important rights. But many say employers are not ensuring workplaces provide the protections or opportunities workers say are critical.

Forty-seven percent of African American workers say they’ve experienced race-based job discrimination. The figures for Latinos (30 percent of whom say they’ve experienced discrimination) and Asians (24 percent) also are higher than the 18 percent of workers in general who say they’ve suffered workplace discrimination. Not surprisingly, 37 percent of workers give employers unsatisfactory marks on preventing racial and ethnic discrimination. “It’s a shame that in 2001 we still have people who see your race before they see how good a worker you are,” says a black male teacher who lives in Pennsylvania.

	On the Job: Rod Olson, a painter in Illinois, says age discrimination is a problem at work.

Nearly a quarter of women—23 percent— say they have been sexually harassed. Twenty-seven percent of workers say employers are falling short when it comes to preventing sexual harassment. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports the number of sexual harassment charges filed increased 50 percent between 1992 and 2000. Workers who have experienced discrimination or harassment say it is hard to successfully address the problem of bias on the job: 62 percent say it is “very” or “somewhat” difficult. “A lot of women don’t feel safe because of the way management talks to them and treats them like dirt,” says Dortche. “They are afraid to file charges because they are afraid they will lose their jobs.”

Fully 92 percent of workers say it is essential or very important to protect the right to equal treatment regardless of age. But almost half of workers (45 percent) grade employers poorly on protecting workers against age discrimination. The EEOC in 2000 received the highest number of age-discrimination complaints since 1995. “Age discrimination is a major problem,” says Rod Olson, a member of Painters and Allied Trades Local 97/ District 30 in Aurora, Ill. “I’ve seen people forced out of their jobs and laid off. Employers have to realize that younger workers learn from older workers.”

While 88 percent say it is essential or very important to protect the right to reasonable accommodations to allow people with disabilities to work, 39 percent give employers low grades in respecting this right.

White workers value protecting workers of color from discrimination, men support women’s right to equal pay and younger workers say protection against age discrimination is key—indicating workers’ views do not reflect merely their own self-interest.

Little trust in corporations

The subterranean river that runs beneath their discontent is workers’ growing sense that corporations have too much power and can’t be trusted to treat workers fairly. In 1996, 47 percent of workers said management had too much power. Today, 57 percent say management has too much power. “People experience management’s favoritism and disrespectful comments,” says Jenni Sprague, a preschool teacher and member of AFT Local 3432 in Portland, Ore. “Management has way too much power.”

Some 63 percent of workers say they have little or no trust that employers will treat workers fairly. And workers see corporations as willing to exchange workers’ rights for bigger profits, with 63 percent saying corporations generally pursue profits at the expense of loyalty to employees. Only 27 percent say corporations do a good job of balancing these interests. “It’s all about the money—work faster, do more with fewer people,” says a nurse in North Carolina. “I see it every day. Sometimes I feel like a machine, not a person.”

		From America@work, September 2001.

More than three-quarters of workers say management or stockholders benefited most from the recent economic boom. But in an economic slowdown, 81 percent say employees would have to sacrifice the most.

Against this background of unfettered corporations and rights denied, America’s workers increasingly are clamoring for change. Fully 56 percent say new laws are needed to hold corporations to a higher standard of responsibility in the way they treat workers. This is up from 44 percent in 1996.

At the same time workers are calling for more laws, they mistakenly think they have more legal rights in the workplace than they actually do. Nearly two-thirds of workers say an employer cannot legally fire an employee with a good performance record without a good reason. They are wrong. And 60 percent say it is against the law to refuse to provide sick leave. They, too, are wrong. Without a union contract specifically addressing these issues, employers essentially can do whatever they want. The survey seems to indicate that workers think employer behavior they find morally unacceptable also is legally unacceptable.

Workers say corporations haven’t lived up to their expectations and don’t deserve much trust. A substantial proportion say workers aren’t getting the fair wages, fair treatment and respect they want at work. To corporate America and to elected officials, working families are calling for real protection of workplace rights. “There should be more laws to protect workers,” says Sprague, the preschool teacher. “I don’t think you can have enough protections. There’s always the opportunity for abuse of power.”