Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal

The concept of human rights has not been an important influence in the making of U.S. labor policy. This paper is part of a larger examination of U.S. domestic labor policy using internationally accepted human rights principles as standards of judgment. The essential question this paper attempts to answer is whether the fundamental human right of freedom of association is being violated in the content and application of U.S. labor relations law. The paper discusses the decisions of the International Labor Organization's Freedom of Association Committee in cases alleging violations of freedom of association in the U.S., the legislative history of the employer "free speech" provision of Taft-Hartley (Section (C) ); and court and NLRB decisions in cases where property rights and the freedom of association collide. The paper concludes that the U.S. government has not ensured the right of freedom of association at workplaces but rather has enabled employers to resist the exercise of that right more effectively. The fact that the government simply permits private power to be exercised does not obsolve the government of its responsibility to intervene when that private power is used to interfere with a human right such as the right of freedom of association.