The United States has ratified only two of the eight core ILO labour Conventions. In view of restrictions on the trade union rights of workers and continuing problems with child labour, determined measures are needed to comply with the commitments the US accepted at Singapore and Doha in the WTO Ministerial Declarations over 1996-2001, and in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

The US has not ratified the ILO core Convention on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, nor the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise. There is insufficient protection against anti-union discrimination. The right to strike and the right to collective bargaining are severely restricted, in particular for public sector workers.

The US has not ratified the core ILO Convention on Equal Remuneration nor the Convention on Discrimination. Discrimination is prohibited by law but does occur in practice. Legislation requires equal pay but
wage differences exist between men and women and among different ethnic groups.

The US has ratified the ILO core Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, but has not ratified the Convention on Minimum Age. Child labour remains a problem in US agriculture, where fewer regulations apply and where children are exposed to dangerous working conditions.

The US has ratified the Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour but has not ratified the Convention on Forced Labour. Forced labour exists in such forms as forced prostitution (trafficking of women and girls), and in the garment industry within the US territories.

Full report here:
 http://www.icftu.org/www/pdf/usclsreport2004.pdf