By Doug Cunningham

UE, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union, has won an International Labor Organization decision on public employee bargaining in North Carolina. The ILO ruled that by denying bargaining rights to North Carolina public employees, the U.S. is violating international labor and human rights to freedom of association. UE's Joseph Cullen says there's a law in North Carolina that specifically outlaws collective bargaining for public employees. An effort is underway to overturn that law.

[Cullen]: "It's truly a human rights issue. I mean, we saw that there are some really egregious working conditions in North Carolina. Very, very well documented by the state itself that there's very widespread race discrimination and sex discrimination for public sector workers in North Carolina. And we really did feel that the best way to address this is through the collective bargaining process."