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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The United States has ratified only one of the seven core labour standards. In many areas, particularly regarding freedom of association, further measures are needed in order to comply fully with the commitments the US accepted at Singapore in 1996 and Geneva in 1998 in the WTO Ministerial Declarations and in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted in June 1998.
The US has not ratified either of the ILO's two core conventions on trade union rights. The right to organise and right to strike are not adequately protected in US labour legislation. The law is unable to protect workers when the employer is determined to destroy or prevent union representation.
The US has not ratified either of the ILO's two core conventions on discrimination. While the law generally provides satisfactory provisions against discrimination, in practice women receive much lower remuneration than men and other forms of discrimination persist.
The US has not ratified the ILO's core convention on child labour. A major area of abuse is the agricultural sector, particularly concerning children of migrant workers.
The US has ratified one of the ILO's two core conventions on forced labour. There are grounds for concern about commercial production by prisoners in the US and about practices amounting to forced labour by exploited migrant workers (mainly women) in US dependent territories.
The US supports respect for labour standards internationally in its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for imports from developing countries. Countries engaging in violations of defined workers' rights have been liable to lose their duty-free or reduced-tariff access to the US market.