1. At The Crossroads:
Where Human Rights
and Labor Rights Intersect
Fareed Michelen
Community Outreach
Specialist
NYS AFL-CIO

2. Definitions
• “What’s in a name? That which we call a
rose by any other name would smell as
sweet.”
• LEXICON: the vocabulary of a language, an
individual speaker or group of speakers, or a subject
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
• Subjective Terminology:
– Middle Class
– Terrorist

3. Human Rights
• Encyclopedia Britannica: rights that belong to an
individual or group of individuals as a consequence of
being human. They refer to a wide continuum of values
or capabilities thought to enhance human agency and
declared to be universal in character, in some sense
equally claimed for all human beings.
• “It is undeniable that every human being is entitled
to living space, daily bread, and the protection of
the law as a common birthright; these are
fundamentals and should not be handed out as an
act of charity. ”
- Alfred Delp, S.J. Anti-Nazi German Jesuit Priest

4. L abor R i ghts
• No standard definition.
• Popular definition: a group of legal rights and
claimed human rights having to do with labor
relations between workers and their employers, usually
obtained under labor and employment law.
• Pertains largely to laws about work
conditions and ability to unionize.

5. History of Human Rights
• Started in Middle East and Southeast Asia
– Code of Hammurabi 1772 BC
• Babylonian Empire
• First written rules governing society (including trade and
commerce)
• Lays out basic rights of man
– Cyrus Cylinder 539 BC
• Achaemenid Empire
• Decree from King Cyrus after he conquered Babylon
• Disbands slavery, supports freedom of religion, and bans ethnic
conflict
– Edict of Ashoka 269 BC
• Mayuran Empire
• First evidence of Buddhism
• Defines how humans should interact in peace

6. Human Rights= Rights of
•
Man
European and American concept based on
previous beliefs
• Concept Based on Rights of Certain Citizens
• Enlightenment Period
– John Locke
– Voltaire
• French Revolution
– Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen
• American Revolution
– Declaration of Independence
– The Rights of Man – Thomas Paine

7. Modern Human Rights
• Phrase used by allies not oppressed group
• Pertains to barbarous acts committed on large
populations, supported by a particular regime
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
– Adopted in 1948 by the United Nations in Paris
– “All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason
and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.” – Art. 1

8. H i stor i cal E xamples
• Nazi Holocaust
• Armenian Genocide
• Darfur Genocide
• The Parsley Massacre
• Khmer Rouge
• Srebrenica Massacre
• World Wide Indigenous Genocide
• Chattel Slavery

9. D ebated V i olati ons
• USSR/Russia
• China
• The Kurds
• Hiroshima and Nagusaki
• Contras
• Guantanamo Bay
• Palestine

10. History of L abor R i ghts
• Labor Rights have morphed as labor has evolved
– Agrarian: Feudalist Society
– Industrial: Imperialist-Capitalist Society
– Post-Industrial: Neo-Capitalist Society
• Code of Hammurabi
– Discusses relationship between employer and employees
• Original 3 Classifications of workers
– Skilled Craftsmen
– Farmers
– Slaves

11. Sk i l led Cr aftsmen
• Original Building Trades
– Skilled Trade that required training
– Trade taught through apprenticeship
– Industry regulated standards
– Blacksmiths, Masons
• Guilds
– Original outline for union
– Non-royal upper class
– Blamed for Illuminati

12. F ar mer s
• Largest Population of workers
– Many hands to work the fields
– Heritage based institution
• Family members supplied work force
– Work standards dictated by seasons and patriarch
• Modern Farming
– To this day the farming industry has been allowed
to self-regulate and establish work conditions.
– Farm Workers Bill

13. Slaves
• Term and class of worker that has evolved
over time as governments, society, and
labor has changed
• First class of worker that Labor Laws were
written for
– All rulers established terms and conditions
• Slaves were originally captured people
– This includes original African slaves
– Chattel Slavery is exclusively American
Slave is derived from Slav of Eastern Europe

14. Original Slaves
• Have existed since the expansion of empires
– As agrarian societies expanded onto other peoples land,
those that did not assimilate became slaves
• Not property: forced labor
– Most empires developed mechanisms for slaves to
achieve freedom
– Slaves could own property or marry non-slaves
– Since not property, rules governing them were original
Labor laws as they were set by government
Slaves Didn’t Build the Pyramids

15. Revolutions Make Labor
Rights
• 4 Historic revolutions
– Peasants’ Revolution
– Slave Revolutions
– European Industrial Revolution
– American Industrial Revolution
• Revolutions marked time when laws and
changes were forced
– As commerce and production changed so did
Labor rights and laws

16. Peasants’ Revolt
• British Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
– Peasants worked on land owned by Lord
– Different from farms because Lord dictated Labor
standards
– Revolt for better work conditions and wages
• Stands as first Labor based revolt by non-
slaves
– Was not grounded in the politics of the time but in the
treatment of the workers

17. Slave Revolts

18. Marxism
• European industrialization created new
means of productions
– New governments, bosses, and economic ideology
• Capitalism
– Belief that consumer competition will create social
equality
• Marxism
– Meant to counter capitalism
– Belief that those that create production must have equal
say in society

19. Haymarket Riot
• Chicago 1886
– Workers striking for an 8 hour day
– Company hires instigator to throw bombs
– Government ships Southern soldiers as National Guard
– Workers blamed and 8 organizers hung for riot
“If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labor
movement – the movement from which the downtrodden millions,
the millions who toil and live in want and misery – the wage
slaves – expect salvation – if this is your opinion, then hang us!
You, in your blindness, think you can stop the tidal wave of
civilization and human emancipation by placing a few policemen,
a few Gatling guns, and some regiments of militia on the shore –
you think you can frighten the rising waves back into the
unfathomable depths whence they have arisen, by erecting a few

20. Modern L abor R i ghts
• May Day
– Europe’s Labor Day in honor of Haymarket Riots
– Seen as catalyst for American Labor Movement
– Demands became Federal standard
• Labor Movement
– Based on principles of Marxism
– Those that produce have a say
Labor Day was created so Americans
wouldn’t honor May Day

21. Collaboration
• United Nations
– International Labour Organization
– Human Rights Council
• Causes
– Civil Rights
– Anti-Apartheid
– Marriage Equality
– Free Trade Agreements
International Labor Solidarity –
Dunnes 12

22. Contracts
• Goes farther then Labor laws
– Written by workers not lobbyists
– Written to protect the weakest person
• Trend Setting
– MLK Day
– Non-Discrimination Clause
– Healthcare and Pension access

23. • Immigration
– Cheap Labor vs. Local Hires
• Environmentalism
– Conservation vs. Employment
• International Issues
– Outsourcing
– Palestine
– Wars

24. Constituency Groups
• “Conscience of the Labor Movement”
– Represent disenfranchised members
– Born out of opposing issues AFL-CIO took
• Autonomous but friendly
– Can take positions and stances unions can’t or won’t
– Bridge between communities and unions

25. • Class Warfare
– Anti-Marxist position
• The Purges of 1950
– Post WWII purging of Marxist Labor Leaders
– Coincided with refusal to organize the south
• Middle Class
– Term developed to replace Working Class
• Occupy Wall Street
– Distanced solidarity

26. My Enemy’s Enemy is My Friend
• Out Organized
– Neo-Capitalist Corporations are united
– New weapons of oppression
• IMF, WB, Super PAC’s
• No Longer an Island
– Reaching out to other organizations
– Building coalitions
– Focusing on Greater Good