Global Unions condemn the attacks on U.S. federal employees and the elimination of the crucial ILAB program
The Council of Global Unions (CGU), representing over 200 million workers worldwide through the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Global Union Federations (GUFs), and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC), strongly condemns the latest attacks by the Trump administration on the fundamental rights of workers both within the United States and abroad.
Last Thursday, President Trump issued an Executive Order which strips the rights to unionize and collectively bargain from over 1 million workers across the U.S. federal Government, a move which is nothing short of explicit union busting and a vindictive retaliatory act against a dedicated and committed workforce. Such a strike against fundamental freedoms has no place in a democracy. The international trade union movement express our full support and solidarity with all of the workers and their unions which have been targeted by this heartless action.
The Trump administration has also eliminated funding for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), a gift to all the dictators and billionaire elites who want to roll back human rights. For more than 20 years, ILAB has played a critical role in combatting exploitation and has worked to ensure safe workplaces and protection for human rights across global supply chains. The most vulnerable workers around the world will feel the pain of this cut.
Workers around the world will not stand silently by while President Trump and an unelected billionaire seek to not only destroy the U.S. labor movement but attack workers’ rights around the world. These extreme measures further expose that everything the Trump administration does is to further enrich the most privileged and to stamp out any form of challenge.
History has shown that international solidarity between working people is a powerful force for good. We commit to intensifying our solidarity to fight against the actions of the Trump administration and against all those around the world wanting to attack working people and their unions.
The global trade union movement will continue to empower workers and protect fundamental rights and freedoms in every country.
“Trump and his billionaire sycophants are attempting to replace democracy with oligarchy. Like all wannabe dictators, his first measures aim to undermine workers’ rights and the right to education because he understands that resistance to his rule is born out of solidarity and critical thinking”, stated David Edwards, Education International General Secretary.
Addressing the constant attacks on education, Edwards stressed that “in less than a month, the Trump administration fired nearly half the staff of the Department of Education and has begun to dismantle this essential agency altogether. This will have devastating consequences for the millions of vulnerable students who depend on the services the department provides. Education unions in the U.S. are mobilizing and organizing across the country to rise against these ruthless policies. Educators around the world stand with them for the right to education, for workers’ rights, for democracy.”
