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Financial COMMENT LETTERS Close US laws comply with global fundamental labour rights Published: September 2010 02:43 | Last updated: September 2010 02:43 From Ms Ronnie L Goldberg and Mr Randel K Johnson Sir, The Human Rights Watch report referenced in your September article “Groups attacked on US labour practice” reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of international labour standards and US labour law In the first instance, European Union labour laws not define international labour standards International Labour Organization conventions explicitly allow for different national approaches in their application If you follow the logic of the HRW report, any country that does not apply EU labour law is in violation of international standards This is sheer nonsense Second, US labour law is consistent with the principles and policy objectives that underpin the ILO’s fundamental labour rights The fact that US and EU labour laws differ in technical details does not make US laws “weak” Finally, US labour law is clear that employees have a right to choose whether to join a labour union There is no international standard against “discouraging workers from forming unions” Indeed, the ILO recently held that an employer’s right to freedom of expression and opinion during union organising is consistent with the principles of freedom of association as they are defined internationally, and confirmed that employers have the right to provide employees with information that an employee can use to decide whether – or not – to join a union Ronnie L Goldberg, Executive Vice-President & Senior Policy Officer, US Council for International Business, US Employer Member of the ILO Governing Body; Randel K Johnson, Senior Vice-President, Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, US Chamber of Commerce Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010 Print a single copy of this article for personal use Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times Privacy policy | Terms © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2010