The Universal Periodic Review of
United States of America
Second Cycle
Twenty-Second Session of the UPR
Human Rights Council
The following is a suggested template for non-governmental organization (NGO) submissions to
member governments of the United Nations as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
process. This submission should be a short, accessible one-pager (back and front), and should be
a summary of an issue with related recommendations and questions that you want member
governments to take up with the U.S. Government during the May 2015 in-person review of the
U.S. compliance on its overall human rights record in Geneva, Switzerland. Any organization or
individual may create and submit a one-pager, whether or not you submitted a longer report in
September 2015.
I.
TOPIC: LABOR RIGHTS [General category of Human right]
Right to Collective Bargaining and Freedom of Association [More specific category
if applicable]
II.
ISSUE: [description of problem]
Despite a law passed 75 years ago (NLRA) which protects workers’ rights to “selforganization, to form, join or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively
through representatives of their own choosing and to engage in other concerted
activities for the purposes of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection”
American workers cannot overcome obstacles to achieving those rights. Due to
sustained anti-union efforts by employers, the passage of state laws denying this right
to certain categories of workers the exclusion of many categories of workers the
union membership rate in 2009 was only 7.2% in the private sector. Industries
excluded from the protection of that law include agricultural, domestic and public
sectors, as well as those who can be labeled independent contractors and/or those who
are immigrants.
Widespread failure to sanction employers for violation of the NLRA and for coercive
behavior during union membership drives further inhibits workers’ ability to exercise
their rights.
Longstanding judicial doctrines allow employers to permanently replace striking
workers if they can demonstrate an economic justification for doing so.
III.
RELEVANT HISTORY: [insert relevant concluding observations from other treaty
reviews, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(CERD), and Convention Against Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CAT); relevant sections (Articles) from the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that apply to your issue; as well as other
human rights authority related to your issue (e.g., International Labour Organization
(ILO)).]
IV.
ACTION TAKEN OR NOT TAKEN ON RELEVANT HISTORY: [implementation
or lack of implementation of authority mentioned in Section III.]
The United States has continuously failed to act on the recommendations of the ILO
and ICCPR in violation of the rights guaranteed under UDHR Article ….etc.
V.
REQUESTED RECOMMENDATION(S): [What do you want the country to
recommend to the U.S. as an action to be taken?]
i.
The U.S. must provide remedies against employer coercion and interference with
freedom of association and collective bargaining,
ii.
those rights must be accorded regardless of citizenship status or work industry;
iii. the U.S. must educate States within their boundaries to these obligations, and
iv.
the U.S. must provide a method of enforcement to penalize employers who deny
this right without allowing them to penalize the protected workers.
VI.
QUESTION: [What question do you want the United States to be asked related to
your issue? Include one no more than two questions.]
Why does the U.S. fail to protect many categories of its workers by signing the ILO
and allowing all workers protection under its labor laws?
VII.
CONTACT INFORMATION: [person(s) email and/or phone to contact for further
information]