Apr 15, 2025
Media Contacts
Solidarity Center: [email protected]; Public Citizen: Emily Leach, [email protected]
The Solidarity Center, Global March Against Child Labour, and the American Institutes for Research (AIR), represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed a lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s unlawful termination of congressionally authorized international labor rights programs.
The lawsuit challenges the Department’s halt on funding for programs administered by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB). These longstanding, bipartisan programs are the backbone of U.S. efforts to uphold labor standards in global trade, combat child and forced labor and protect American and global workers and businesses from unfair competition.
“Programs like those run by our clients, which promote stronger labor standards and better working conditions worldwide, are both critical from a human rights standpoint and necessary to ensure that American companies and workers, as well as workers around the world, aren’t undercut in the global marketplace,” said Stephanie Garlock, lead counsel at Public Citizen. “Congress required the Department of Labor to fund these crucial programs. The Secretary of Labor has no authority to refuse to do so.”
The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent further harm and restore funding lawfully appropriated by Congress.
The Solidarity Center, a U.S.-based nonprofit labor organization, had support for all 11 of its ILAB-funded projects terminated – totaling nearly $80 million. These programs, implemented in more than 15 countries, have supported workers organizing for better wages, enforcing safety standards and holding trade partners accountable under agreements like the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The termination of Global March Against Child Labour’s single largest grant will impact around 40,000-50,000 children in Uganda, Peru and Nepal as its implementing partners’ program developing child-labor-free municipalities cooperating with national governments has halted. The result will be tens of thousands of children out of school and a stoppage of preventive community work within supply chains like coffee production — even though these supply chains are crucial for U.S. companies’ imports.
“This case is about more than funding – it’s about protecting workers and enforcing the law,” said Shawna Bader-Blau, Executive Director of the Solidarity Center. “When governments or companies exploit workers to cut costs, it drags down wages and standards everywhere – including in the U.S. These programs are vital to ensuring fair trade and dignity on the job, from Honduras to Ohio.”
“Cutting ILAB programs dismantles one of the main tools we have to fight worker exploitation in the global economy,” Bader-Blau added. “From the clothes we wear to the food we eat, most of what we buy is produced across complex supply chains that stretch around the world. ILAB programs help make sure those workers aren’t being abused – and that businesses that don’t play by the rules don’t get an advantage by exploiting workers overseas. We owe it to workers in America and around the world, to responsible businesses and to our trade partners to do better.”
About the Solidarity Center
The Solidarity Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works with unions and worker organizations around the world to promote and protect labor rights. It supports frontline efforts to improve wages, working conditions and workplace safety, combat exploitation and advance the rule of law in the global economy.
Learn more: www.solidaritycenter.org/stopping-the-race-to-the-bottom/.
About Public Citizen Litigation Group
Public Citizen Litigation Group is the litigating arm of the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen Foundation. Founded in 1972, the Litigation Group has a long track record of holding federal agencies accountable and enforcing the rule of law in defense of the public good.
Learn more: www.citizen.org/litigation.
El Centro de Solidaridad presenta una demanda para impugnar la terminación de los Programas Globales de Derechos Laborales
15 de abril, 2025
Contactos de prensa: Centro de Solidaridad: [email protected] o Emily Leach, Public Citizen: [email protected]
El Centro de Solidaridad, la Marcha Global Contra el Trabajo Infantil y los Institutos de Investigación Estadounidenses (AIR), representados por el Grupo de Litigios de Public Citizen, presentaron hoy una demanda impugnando la terminación ilegal por parte del Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos de los programas internacionales de derechos laborales autorizados por el Congreso.
La demanda impugna la decisión del Departamento de suspender la financiación de programas administrados por la Oficina de Asuntos Laborales Internacionales (ILAB). Estos programas bipartidistas llevan mucho tiempo activos y son fundamentales en los esfuerzos de EE. UU. para defender los estándares laborales en el comercio mundial, combatir el trabajo infantil y el trabajo forzado y proteger de la competencia desleal a las empresas estadounidenses y a todos los trabajadores.
“Los programas de nuestros clientes, que promueven normas laborales más estrictas y mejores condiciones laborales en todo el mundo, son fundamentales desde el punto de vista de los derechos humanos y también necesarios para garantizar que las empresas y los trabajadores estadounidenses, así como los trabajadores de todo el mundo, no se vean perjudicados en el mercado global,” declaró Stephanie Garlock, abogada principal de Public Citizen. “El Congreso exigió al Departamento de Trabajo que financiara estos programas tan cruciales. El secretario de Trabajo no tiene la potestad para negarse”.
Los demandantes quieren conseguir una medida cautelar y declaratoria para evitar más daños y restablecer la financiación legalmente asignada por el Congreso.
El Centro de Solidaridad, una organización laboral sin ánimo de lucro con sede en EE. UU., vio cancelados los fondos para los 11 proyectos que tenía financiados por el ILAB, por una suma de casi 80 millones de dólares. Estos programas, implementados en más de 15 países, han apoyado a los trabajadores que se organizan para conseguir mejores salarios, hacer cumplir las normas de seguridad y garantizar que los socios comerciales cumplan con las responsabilidades estipuladas en acuerdos como el Tratado entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá (T-MEC).
La terminación de la mayor subvención individual de la Marcha Global Contra el Trabajo Infantil afectará a entre 40,000 y 50,000 niños en Uganda, Perú y Nepal, ya que se ha detenido el programa de sus socios de implementación que establece municipios libres de trabajo infantil en cooperación con los gobiernos nacionales. El resultado será que decenas de miles de niños no irán a la escuela y se detendrá el trabajo comunitario preventivo en las cadenas de suministro como la producción de café, a pesar de que estas cadenas de suministro son cruciales para las importaciones de las empresas estadounidenses.
“Este caso va más allá de la financiación: se trata de proteger a los trabajadores y hacer cumplir la ley,” dijo Shawna Bader-Blau, directora ejecutiva del Centro de Solidaridad. “Cuando los gobiernos o las empresas explotan a los trabajadores para reducir costes, los salarios y las condiciones laborales se ven afectados en todas partes, incluso en Estados Unidos. Estos programas son vitales para garantizar el comercio justo y la dignidad en el trabajo, desde Honduras hasta Ohio.”
“Dejar sin fondos a los programas de ILAB desmantela una de las principales herramientas que tenemos para luchar contra la explotación de los trabajadores en la economía global,” añadió Bader-Blau. “Desde la ropa que llevamos hasta la comida que comemos, la mayor parte de lo que compramos se produce a través de complejas cadenas de suministro que se extienden por todo el mundo. Los programas de ILAB ayudan a garantizar que esos trabajadores no sean maltratados y que las empresas que no respetan las reglas no saquen ventaja explotando a los trabajadores en otros países. Los trabajadores de Estados Unidos y del resto del mundo, las empresas responsables y nuestros socios comerciales merecen algo mejor.”
Acerca del Centro de Solidaridad
El Centro de Solidaridad es una organización no partidista y sin ánimo de lucro que trabaja con sindicatos y organizaciones de trabajadores de todo el mundo para promover y proteger los derechos laborales. Apoya los esfuerzos en primera línea para mejorar los salarios, las condiciones de trabajo y la seguridad en el lugar de trabajo, combatir la explotación y promover el estado de derecho en la economía global.
Más información: www.solidaritycenter.org/stopping-the-race-to-the-bottom/
Acerca del Grupo de Litigios de Public Citizen
El Grupo de Litigios de Public Citizen es el brazo litigante de la organización sin ánimo de lucro de defensa del consumidor Public Citizen Foundation. Fundado en 1972, el Grupo de Litigios cuenta con amplia experiencia asegurando que las agencias federales cumplan con sus responsabilidades y que se observe el estado de derecho en defensa del bien público.
Más información: www.citizen.org/litigation.
Mar 27, 2025
We are alarmed and deeply dismayed that the U.S. Department of Labor has terminated funding for International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) programs. We have received termination notices for all of our ILAB grants.
This decision threatens to unravel decades of progress in combating forced and child labor, human trafficking and exploitation around the world.
For over 20 years, ILAB-supported programs have helped uphold the values of dignity, freedom and fairness by supporting grassroots efforts to ensure safe workplaces and human rights protections across global supply chains.
Crucially, many of these programs were established to enforce labor provisions in countries where the United States has trade agreements. They help ensure that our trading partners live up to their commitments. Cutting these programs risks turning a blind eye to violations that directly impact the fairness of our trade relationships.
These programs are not ideological – they are practical, effective, and life-changing. They reflect long-standing bipartisan commitments to strengthen labor standards and fight against trafficking, child labor, and exploitative “cheap labor” so that American workers and businesses are not competing with countries that break the rules.
ILAB programs and the work of its staff benefit American workers, too, by raising standards around the world and helping prevent a race to the bottom that drives down wages and working conditions everywhere.
Cutting ILAB funding will silence these efforts and undermine U.S. commitments to American workers and workers worldwide.
For media inquiries, contact [email protected]. For more information: www.solidaritycenter.org.
Mar 5, 2025
The Solidarity Center stands with workers everywhere fighting for fair wages, safe workplaces and fundamental freedoms – because when working people have rights and a voice, democracy thrives.
As the largest U.S.-based international worker rights organization, we fight against forced labor, human trafficking, and unfair business practices that lower wages both in the U.S. and around the world. While we are allied with the AFL-CIO, we operate independently and focus solely on global efforts to uphold a simple principle: hardworking people – no matter where they live – deserve respect, fair wages and the ability to come together to negotiate better pay, benefits, and working conditions with their employers.
This isn’t charity – it’s a fight for fairness, and the stakes are real:
- Trade unionists face violence and crackdowns – even death.
- Working people, unions and veterans in war zones lose access to legal aid.
- Hard-won labor protections vanish, leaving millions without safeguards to defend their rights.
- With deep local partnerships, we’re often the only international organization standing with workers in the toughest conditions. Funding does not drive this, our mission does. And we won’t back down.
Workers’ fight is our fight. When workers win, democracy wins.
For media inquiries, contact [email protected]. For more information: www.solidaritycenter.org.
Oct 28, 2024
More than 200 International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW) members gathered in Casablanca, Morocco, October 9 to 11 at their 2024 Global Conference to share ideas and to collaborate on legal strategies to promote and defend worker rights.
The Solidarity Center established the ILAW Network in 2018 as a way for pro-labor lawyers worldwide to bring together legal practitioners and scholars in an exchange of ideas and information in order to best represent the rights and interests of workers and their organizations wherever they may be.
ILAW lawyers working together have taken legal strategies that are successful in one country and deploy them elsewhere. In doing so, they have set new legal precedents that build a stronger foundation for the expansion of worker rights around the globe.
Credit: Mosa’ab Elshamy
Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau welcomed attendees, describing the network of over 1,300 members in more than 90 countries as “uniquely situated to take on global corporations suppressing worker rights.”
She cited the successful advocacy of women labor lawyers for new International Labor Organization (ILO) treaties, like Convention 189 on domestic workers and Convention 190 on violence and harassment.
Solidarity Center Rule of Law Director and ILAW Network Chair Jeffrey Vogt laid out the conference’s purpose. “Around the world, the rights of workers and unions are under attack. Employers are well-resourced and coordinated in their efforts to shape law and policy. It is essential that workers and unions do the same. Through ILAW, we can learn from each other, build from successes and failures, and strengthen our impact through legal solidarity.”
Credit: Mosa’ab Elshamy
The importance of interconnectedness was woven throughout many plenary sessions and discussions. Networking, learning from and collaborating across countries and regions was a key part of the conference, as attendees talked about the commonalities of their work.
The opening plenary, moderated by Solidarity Center’s Rule of Law Deputy Director Monika Mehta, focused on the impact of technology in the world of work, including but not only digital platform workers, from Amazon warehouses workers to content moderators for major social media firms.
Panelist Liz Lenjo described the content moderators in Kenya who filed a lawsuit against Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads) and Sama, the local contractor, citing poor working conditions, union busting and inadequate mental health support.
These workers were hired to screen posts, videos and messages for Facebook and remove harmful or offensive content. Workers spent hours viewing violent and disturbing images and videos. They were left on their own to deal with the psychological trauma. In a landmark ruling, the Kenyan court determined it had jurisdiction over Meta.
Credit: Mosa’ab Elshamy
Sandra Muñoz discussed how women in Colombia’s parliament recently passed legislation to harassment in the workplace and linked the fight for equality to equality for all. “Unless we can overcome inequality,” Muñoz said, “we can’t overcome inequality as a whole.”
Kayan Leung also described successful litigation she undertook in South Africa to establish parity in paid parental leave in order that the responsibility of care does not default to women. The ILAW Network filed an amicus brief in that case.
During the panel on Just Transition, Angelica Maria Palacios Martinez spoke about the efforts to get Colombia’s government to recognize trade unions’ essential role in Just Transition and protecting the whole population. “From the trade union world, we have called out the government to recognize us as a key player, she said, “so that these public policies are focused on protecting the entire population, and in particular, protecting the workers.”
Abdullah Nahid of the Maldives, one of the countries most affected by climate change, described union efforts to support workers in the tourism and fisheries sector.
On the panel on the informal economy, Madhulika Tatigotla discussed the growth of the informal economy in India. India’s informal economy continues to grow, as the formal sector continues to informalize as, for example, 40 percent of factory workers are now on temporary contracts. Recently, workers and their legal advocates developed a comprehensive draft law for workers in the informal economy to extend labor rights and benefits.
In the final right to strike plenary, Paapa Danquah noted the increasing international threats to the right to strike, linking it to civil liberties. “The attack on the right to strike on the international level is the first step to taking away the right to strike everywhere,” Danquah said. “Whenever you see attacks on the right to strike, there are also attacks on collective bargaining and civil liberty.” He described how the ITUC was involved in litigation before the International Court of Justice to protect the right to strike as a principle of international law.
As the conference ended, attendees discussed priorities for the coming year, from more collaboration between all members to deepening national and regional labor law networks, cross-pollination between ILAW regions, increasing engagement with social movements and Indigenous communities in order to support union growth. Attendees left the conference energized and committed to forging a robust labor law network for a stronger global labor movement.
Oct 7, 2024
World Cotton Day – October 9, 2024: As ubiquitous as cotton is in our everyday lives, the workers who produce and harvest this foundational crop are often invisible. This was long the case in Uzbekistan, where for decades the government forcibly mobilized millions of people, sometimes including children, to harvest cotton for state-owned enterprises. A long-running global advocacy campaign led by the Cotton Campaign, of which Solidarity Center was a founding member, helped push the government to implement reforms that brought that system to an end in 2021.
Ending state-organized forced labor was a major accomplishment, but establishing just and equitable working conditions in the cotton sector is a longer journey. With support from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Solidarity Center is working to put in place building blocks that will allow workers to ensure their rights are protected. The Solidarity Center signed an agreement with the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the project’s co-implementing partner, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), in December 2022 to begin project work. As the 2023 harvest season gets underway, Solidarity Center and CIPE are working closely with stakeholders in government, civil society and business to work from the field up and from oversight authorities down to build knowledge within the cotton sector about fundamental rights and strengthen mechanisms to ensure those rights are secured.
For the 2023 harvest, this includes:
- In collaboration with the ministry’s labor inspection and legal team, the Solidarity Center and CIPE have prepared and printed more than 10,000 leaflets for distribution to cotton pickers during the ongoing harvest season. These leaflets provide cotton pickers with accessible and comprehensive information about their fundamental rights as seasonal workers under Uzbekistan’s Labor Code. The content covers essential worker protections and includes critical contact information, such as the Labor Inspection hotline and a project-run Telegram channel, where workers can anonymously report violations and seek free legal consultation. The leaflets have been also distributed to groups working in different regions across Uzbekistan to maximize outreach. This initiative plays a crucial role in raising awareness among seasonal workers, ensuring they are informed of their rights and the enforcement mechanisms available to them if their rights are violated. Providing clear and accessible information about legal protections and enforcement channels will be essential to empowering cotton workers to assert their rights, and increased awareness is critical to improving compliance with international labor standards, which is the route to creating a more sustainable and transparent cotton sector.
- The Solidarity Center, in partnership with the Tashkent Mediation Center and the State Labor Inspectorate, successfully conducted a two-day training session October 2–3 in Tashkent aimed at enhancing the capacity of mediators to resolve individual labor disputes. The training, facilitated by a regional expert, introduced participants to mediation as an alternative mechanism for labor dispute resolution. The comprehensive curriculum, a blend of theoretical knowledge and practical exercises, equipped 10 mediators from the Tashkent Mediation Center and Labor Inspection staff with the skills to mediate and effectively resolve individual labor disputes. The head of the Labor Inspectorate emphasized the importance of continued collaboration and capacity building as critical to providing workers in the cotton sector with an effective remedy for labor rights violations.
These harvest-period activities supplement an ongoing rights awareness and education program the Solidarity Center and CIPE are implementing with workers and employers in the cotton sector. A core priority of that program in the coming year will be to ensure that all workers in the cotton sector have a written employment contract with clear, enforceable conditions of work. Employment contracts are vital to healthy labor relations that, unfortunately, are absent in many agricultural supply chains.
Recent reforms in Uzbekistan requiring labor contracts for all workers in cotton production have the potential to help the country distinguish itself as a high-road option for textile sourcing, if those reforms can be implemented and enforced. Developing workplace-level reporting and monitoring systems for workers to verify their rights are being respected, and to seek remedy if they are not, will be an important next step to positioning Uzbekistan as a leader in developing sustainable and just textile supply chains.
Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL-38908-22-75-K, through a sub-award from the Solidarity Center. 100% of the total costs of the project or program is financed with federal funds, for a total of $1,018,814. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government.
