On Dec 9, 2021, 7:26 AM -0800, Richard Gaines <rgaines@wikimedia.org>, wrote:
Hello,
The Wikimedia Foundation’s Global Advocacy team is excited to announce the approval of the Human Rights Policy by the Board of Trustees on 8 December 2021. Please read our blog post about the policy and what it means for the Wikimedia Foundation’s work in the coming years on Diff. We invite you to join representatives of the Foundation’s Global Advocacy and Human Rights teams here for a conversation hour tomorrow, 10 December, at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 UTC) to address any immediate concerns, questions, or suggestions regarding this policy or how it will be implemented. The session will be recorded for later viewing and you may submit questions by email to myself (rgaines@wikimedia.org) and Ziski Putz (zputz@wikimedia.org) ahead of or following the conversation hour. Additional conversation hours on this policy will be made available in the coming weeks.

The text of the Wikimedia Foundation Human Rights Policy[0] states that their human rights commitments build on a series of international human rights instruments, one of which is the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.[1] Article 8 of that covenant reads, in part:



1. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure:

(a) The right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of his choice, subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, for the promotion and protection of his economic and social interests. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public order or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others;

(b) The right of trade unions to establish national federations or confederations and the right of the latter to form or join international trade-union organizations;

(c) The right of trade unions to function freely subject to no limitations other than those prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public order or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others;

(d) The right to strike, provided that it is exercised in conformity with the laws of the particular country.


If the Wikimedia Foundation is committed to the human rights documents it says it is committed to in its own human rights policy, it will support a workplace union election overseen by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, and support an equivalent process for workers outside the United States. Of course, I do not expect this support to materialize in any way.


[0] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Human_Rights_Policy

[1] https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx



Thank you,
James Hare