Compliance of the United States with International Labor Law

By David Weissbrodt & Matthew Mason. Full text here.

The United States is one of 185 member states of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Despite holding a permanent seat on the ILO Governing Body, the United States is a party to only 14 of the 189 labor conventions and two of eight core conventions. The United States Department of Labor declares that U.S. laws and practices “meet or exceed many ILO conventions.” There are, however, significant reasons to doubt that self-serving U.S. comment. This article examines the level of U.S. compliance with ILO standards, particularly in regard to the right to organize, the right to bargain collectively, the right to strike, treatment of public employees, rights of noncitizen workers, treatment of children, anti-union discrimination, treatment of women, and complaint procedures.