TUC message of support for US workers

18 Feb 2011, By Owen Tudor

TUC General Secretary has sent the following message of solidarity to AFLCIO President Rich Trumka over the campaign to defend collective bargaining in Wisconsin and Ohio:

‘The right to bargain collectively is a fundamental human right, set out in the ILO core conventions. In proposing to take away this right, US right wingers are trying to make ordinary working people pay the price of a crisis they didn’t cause.

‘British workers are facing similar attempts to cut wages and slash benefits life pensions. We stand with our US colleagues, as we do with workers across Europe and throughout the world facing pay cuts, job cuts and rising prices.

‘The interests of public and private sector workers are the same. We need governments to stimulate growth and make the rich pay more rather than throw economies into reverse.’

For more details on action you can take, visit the AFLCIO’s ‘States of Denial’ webpage.