Advancing Decent Work and Labor Rights Globally

In today's globalized world, economies and societies are interconnected. Labor markets often serve as a litmus test for the health of economies and societies. Widespread fragilities in labor markets—including lack of access to labor rights—have far-reaching effects that can impact individuals, societies, and economies.

Given the profound implications of widespread decent work deficits, how can governments, multilateral institutions, and labor rights advocates come together to redress these deep-rooted challenges?

The United States government and the International Labor Organization and its partners have both created groundbreaking strategies and initiatives focused on providing solutions to these issues.

The Global Coalition for Social Justice, launched by the ILO, aims to intensify collective efforts to address labor rights issues by bringing stakeholders to the table for social dialogue with an eye toward concrete policy change.

The United States Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and Labor Standards Globally, also referred to as the Global Labor Strategy, a White House initiative led by the National Security Council that outlines a whole-of-government approach to advancing worker empowerment, unions, and internationally-recognized workers’ rights, carried out by all executive branch agencies operating overseas.  This builds on previous programs like the Department of Labor’s Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment, and Rights (M-POWER) and the Department of State’s long history of promoting labor rights through its diplomatic missions.  

At this public event, CSIS will host key stakeholders to discuss the new ILO Coalition, and the Global Labor Strategy’s priorities and the role that they can play in advancing those priorities.  This will serve as a jumping off point for a broader assessment of the administration and its partners’ efforts to advance labor rights globally and to highlight both successes and the continued activities that panelists hope to see in 2024 and beyond.

This event is made possible by a grant from the International Labour Organization Office for the United States and Canada (ILO USCA).