The passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the United States will benefit workers around the globe, said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings.

Jennings on Tuesday chaired a meeting with leaders of US unions affiliated to both the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win federation, who are working together to get the legislation passed. UNI President and UFCW President Joe Hansen and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney spoke at the opening of the meeting, which also included representatives from the International Trade Union Confederation and trade union centers from around the world.

The unions and union centers formed a task force to support joint global action to ensure the Free Choice act becomes law. They plan to use this model in other countries to support union organizing and recognition.

“Having a law that protects workers’ right to unionize in the United States is vital to winning union recognition and bargaining rights world-wide,” Jennings said. “American companies have been exporting their abusive labor practices to every country they do business in and foreign companies have eagerly embraced those practices when they cross the US border. It is clear that without legislation protecting workers, multinational companies will treat workers as poorly as they can.”

If passed, the Employee Free Choice Act would give US workers a free and fair chance to form a union, hold anti-union employers accountable and force employers to stop dragging out contract negotiations.

More than half of U.S. workers—60 million—say they would join a union right now if they could but US-based companies routinely deny workers the right to form unions and bargain collectively. The current labor law in the US allows these companies to fire pro-union employees and wage intimidating anti-union campaigns before elections. Even when unionizing drives are successful, companies will contest the results, which can lead to years of delays or invalidation of a pro-union vote.

US-based employers like Wal-Mart have fought unions and engaged in illegal labor practices in countries like Argentina, Mexico and China.

European-based companies have entered the race to the bottom when it comes to their labor practices in the United States. Deutcshe Telekom, which has a collective bargaining agreement with German union ver.di in its home country of Germany, has waged a vicious anti-union campaign at its American subsidiary T-mobile.

“For too long, the US has led the race to the bottom on labor rights,” Jennings said. “Passing this new law would be a major victory for US workers and, in the midst of this global recession, it is more important than ever.”

UNI is calling on its member unions around the world to tell their government leaders to urge the Obama administration to make the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act a top priority.