Human Rights Fact-Finding in U.S. Labor Campaigns: Reflections on the MEI Strike in Duluth, Minnesota

Abstract

Seven years after publication of the Human Rights Watch report, Unfair Advantage: Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards (Compa and Human Rights Watch 2000) the report continues to justify and legitimize community-based labor activism. As labor law in the United States increasingly fails to conform to human rights standards, workers are forced to pursue alternative means to exercise the freedom of association, and various strategies have availed themselves to achieve this end. One response is the use of “human rights fact-finding” in labor campaign efforts. Human rights fact-finding is the process of investigating, documenting, and reporting situations on the ground against human rights standards. With the acceptance of the idea of human rights around the world, human rights fact-finding can help position struggles on the moral high-ground and create leverage via mechanisms at different levels of society.