Meet John Summerour. John, 59, was fired in June 2005 from his job as a baggage screener at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after speaking out about inadequate training that was putting travelers’ lives at risk. “We weren’t properly trained to do the job we were hired to do,” he says.

Summerour was terminated after he and others wrote a letter to their congressional representative about lack of training and poor working conditions at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The firing came in retaliation for union activity and exercising his freedom of speech, according to an appeal filed by AFGE with the TSA Disciplinary Review Board, an internal TSA board that reviews terminations.

For John Summerour and millions of other workers in America, speaking up has real consequences. That’s why it’s so important you join with us the week leading up to Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, and stand with working families whose right to form unions and bargain for a better life is at risk. Events are going on all next week, and you can find an event in your area.

Click here to find an event near you.

Dec. 10 marks the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the “right to form and to join trade unions” in the list of our most fundamental freedoms. We’re asking you to honor that anniversary by joining us as we fight to restore that fundamental freedom to America’s workers.

People like John Summerour know how important our freedom to form unions and bargain is—and they’ve proven they’re willing to sacrifice for it. Fight for John and others like him and help restore our basic human rights by joining us for an event in your area during the week leading up to Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.

Click here to find an event near you.

You also can learn more about how our freedom to form unions is under attack by downloading the AFL-CIO issue brief “The Silent War: The Assault on Workers’ Freedom to Choose a Union and Bargain Collectively in the United States.”

Click here to download “The Silent War” in PDF format.

Thank you for all that you do.