American Rights at Work honors Human Rights Watch for exposing the significant legal barriers to freedom of association in U.S. workplaces as an international human rights abuse.

Blood, Sweat, and Fear (2005) documents the reprisals U.S. workers in the meatpacking industry suffer when they attempt to address hazardous working conditions by forming unions.  An upcoming Human Rights Watch report on the widespread violation of workers' right to organize at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores will show how the world's largest retailer is a poster child for what is wrong with U.S. labor law.

Its extensive research has led the organization to condemn U.S. laws and practices that perpetuate abuse, and advocate for reform.  After the National Labor Relations Board expanded the definition of "supervisor" in the Kentucky River decisions, Human Rights Watch denounced the decision, stating that it "violates the principles of freedom of association as established in international law."  Most recently, the group contributed to the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the U.S. House of Representatives by sending a letter to representatives urging their support of labor law reform to address the "widespread violation of workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively in the United States."