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A Year of Strengthening International Labor Rights [1]

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Date: 2024-12

Workers are the backbone of our economy and lifelines for families. Whether we’re talking about garment workers, teachers, engineers, tech workers, or home health-care providers, workers from all sectors contribute to our societies and enrich lives. Respect for workers’ rights and workplace democracy are sacred components of American values and transcend borders.

These values are the core of American trade, national security, and economic policymaking and are echoed in the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally signed last year. This policy built upon bipartisan domestic industrial and worker-centered trade policies to emphasize the importance of labor stakeholders in American foreign diplomacy.

Since then, the U.S. government has promoted workers and labor organizations domestically and abroad. We encouraged partners to address labor rights abuses, such as forced labor in global supply chains or from countries like the People’s Republic of China, because neither companies nor states should benefit from the exploitation of workers.

Instead, we endeavored to promote authentic workers voice and fair labor standards. We also sought to incentivize high standards in foreign investments to help raise standards for workers and companies. Empowering workers globally promotes fair competition, stabilizes economies, and strengthens democratic practices and shared values.

Bringing Workers to the Center of U.S. Foreign Policy

To implement this new policy framework, the Secretary of State directed American Chiefs of Mission to conduct labor diplomacy, including engaging with workers and labor leaders as part of our regular diplomacy. In January at the World Economic Forum, Secretary Blinken personally met with six general secretaries of global labor union federations, which represent more than 200 million workers worldwide.

And then in September 2024, he met with labor advocates on a visit to the Dominican Republic. Many of these workers from manufacturing, care economy, and agricultural sectors were women, migrants, and/or workers of Haitian descent, which are among the most discriminated against groups. He listened to their concerns and then relayed them in his public remarks with Dominican President Abinader, reinforcing the U.S. commitment to shared economic prosperity and respect for labor rights.

Similarly, U.S. ambassadors and chargés d’affaires in countries such as Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, the Philippines, and South Africa met with labor leaders in 2024. This complements and strengthens ongoing private-sector outreach to ensure that worker voices and labor leaders have a seat at the table in our economic diplomacy. Workers know how to sustain resilient businesses and supply chains, shore up democratic practices, and ensure the well-being, dignity, and success of our workforces, which is crucial for successful economies.

Raising Standards for All

Our work also focused on advancing labor reforms in key economies. By incorporating labor rights into trade agreements and broader national security discussions, the United States took a stand against practices that violate international norms. Instead, we promoted a race-to-the-top in standards. Fostering labor rights and unionization, in formal and informal sectors, counteracts unfair trade practices and ensures that international labor standards are upheld.

We showed the world how a modern trade agreement can bring together actors across a regional supply chain to remedy entrenched labor rights violations and abuses. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement’s labor rapid response mechanism delivered nearly $6 million in back pay and benefits to more than 36,000 workers in Mexico. Combined with historic legislative reforms, this began to help dismantle obstacles to the free and fair exercise of labor rights. These kinds of shared efforts advance fair competition, which helps reduce disparities.

This year, the United States also promoted key policies to raise global standards. Through the Partnerships for Workers’ Rights, the United States joined Brazil — and now South Africa — to address common obstacles to decent work, such as employment discrimination and heat stress.

We showed the world how a modern trade agreement can bring together actors across a regional supply chain to remedy entrenched labor rights violations and abuses. —Special Representative for International Labor Affairs Kelly Fay Rodríguez

We did a full-court press with European Union (EU) partners to advance supply chain standard-setting that complements U.S. trade laws prohibiting forced labor-made imports and strengthening corporate accountability. We advocated with ally governments to ensure that foreign companies do not benefit from violating labor laws, including union-busting or interfering with union elections. We encouraged countries to advance labor law reforms to increase consistency with established international norms.

We pushed for effective enforcement of laws, inspections, and protection of labor activists, including in places where workers risk their safety and even lives to simply exercise rights. We also thought creatively to support high-standard investments, such as the multilateral Blue Dot Network framework, established with labor and private sector input.

The Blue Dot Network incentivizes some of the best industry practices on labor standards, such as project agreements with unions, as well as inclusive local community benefits and environmental impacts. In other sectors, we promoted legally binding agreements between unions and companies to enforce and ensure standards across key supply chains.

Building Diplomatic Capacity

American policymakers across political parties know that the new global paradigm for international supply chains requires our diplomats to be fluent in labor diplomacy. Unless foreign service officers know the basics of labor rights laws and regulations, they will not be able to explain new market regulations. This includes:

The EU forced-labor market ban.

The EU Corporate and Social Due Diligence Directive.

The U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, which prohibit the importation of goods made with forced labor.

Looking Ahead

There is still more to do. The United States must advocate for stronger international labor protections by working closely with global partners and ensuring that labor stakeholders are involved, whether we are talking about tech, AI, migration, economic security, strategic competition, or food security. International labor rights are a universal lynchpin that touches on everything from human rights to economic growth to sustainability.

Looking back on the last year, we see the foundation for a future where international labor rights are central to shaping a global economy that works for all. By continuing to build on this momentum, we can create a world where workers everywhere are treated with the dignity, respect, and fairness they deserve and where working families will thrive.

Note to Readers

Kelly M. Fay Rodríguez is the Special Representative for International Labor Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

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[1] Url: https://www.state.gov/dipnote-u-s-department-of-state-official-blog/a-year-of-strengthening-international-labor-rights/

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