United States of America

On 9 March 2021, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R. 842) passed in the House of Representatives. This bill expands various labour protections related to employees' rights to organise and collectively bargain in the workplace. Among other things, it revises the definitions of employee, supervisor and employer and broadens the scope of individuals covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, potentially paving the way for gig workers at companies like Lyft and Uber to organise.

In addition, the bill addresses the procedures for union representation elections and provides employees with the ability to vote in such elections remotely by telephone or the internet. This measure would weaken “right-to-work” laws in twenty-seven states that currently allow employees to be exempt from paying fees to unions that represent them. The bill also makes it an unfair labour practice to require or coerce employees to attend employer meetings designed to discourage union membership and prohibits employers from entering into agreements with employees under which employees waive the right to pursue or join collective or class-action litigation.

Finally, the bill provides for greater protection of strikes and striking workers. Under the instrument, secondary strikes are now authorised, while discriminatory measures and acts of retaliation by employers against strikers are prohibited.

The bill has now advanced to the U.S. Senate. The passing of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would be a landmark worker empowerment in the country.

After nearly two decades of organising for legislative change, UNI Global affiliates United States National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and American Postal Workers’ Union workers (APWU) celebrated the passage of the Postal Service Reform Act through the U.S. Senate on 8 March 2022.

The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by the president, is one of the most important legislative victories for supporters of a public post in the 21st century. It lifts crushing financial requirements on the United States Postal Service (USPS), provides for Medicare integration for future retirees and codifies six-day delivery into law.

The legislation repeals the unfair pre-funding mandate for retiree health benefits put in place in 2006 and secures the continuation of six-day delivery. The changes in the bill will not only save billions of dollars every year for the post but will also strengthen the public postal service and ensure that USPS is able to invest in quality jobs for employees and quality services for the hundreds of millions of Americans who rely on it nearly every day.

During the pandemic, the Luxottica management at the manufacturing and distribution centre in McDonough, USA, used a company-issued app called “LiveSafe”, allegedly to inform workers on COVID-19 issues in the workplace. In reality, the app served as a platform for management to send anti-union messages about purported “risks” of union organising, including that workers might lose pay and benefits if they succeeded in forming a union. In addition to the app, management created an anti-union website vilifying unions and suggesting dire consequences if workers signed a union card. The company also hired anti-union consultants and required workers to attend mandatory, union-bashing “captive-audience” meetings with no opportunity for response by union supporters.

On 15 July 2021, national and international labour groups filed a complaint under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, alleging severe violations of workers’ freedom of association rights at the Luxottica USA.

The Luxottica manufacturing and distribution centre in Georgia employs 2,000 workers. Luxottica is a division of the EssilorLuxottica group, the world’s largest provider of vision care and eyewear products, serving a global market with over 150,000 employees around the world.