Groups Challenge Unlawful Termination of Global Labor Rights Programs

Today, the Solidarity Center, Global March Against Child Labour, and the American Institutes for Research (AIR), represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s unlawful termination of congressionally-authorized international labor rights programs.

For decades, Congress has appropriated money for grants to support workers’ rights programs around the world through the Department of Labor’s 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.

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 US companies’ imports.

“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 aren’t undercut in the global marketplace,” said Stephanie Garlock, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel in this case. “Congress required the Department of Labor to fund these crucial programs. The Secretary of Labor has no authority to refuse to do so.”

“This case is about more than funding – it’s about protecting workers and enforcing the law. For over 25 years, the Solidarity Center has partnered with local unions to defend labor standards and fight exploitation that drives down wages and working conditions everywhere — including in the U.S. These programs are essential to fair trade and to ensuring workers have a voice on the job, from Honduras to Ohio,” said Shawna Bader-Blau, Executive Director of the Solidarity Center.

More information on the lawsuit is available on our website. The complaint can be found in full here.