Conference Agenda

Supporting the development of legitimate, collective worker voice – through the realization of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights – is critical to ensuring equitable and responsive workplace and labor market regulation, and that both people and businesses benefit from economic growth. However, ‘worker voice’ remains debated, with concepts ranging from industry-wide collective bargaining agreements to employer-administered surveys considered examples of voice. Effective voice mechanisms remain understudied in precarious work environments, including global supply chains, the platform economy, and transnational worker corridors. This special session seeks to fill these gaps by sharing practical learnings from technical assistance, trade enforcement and partnership-building together with the preliminary findings by a Penn State University research team that draws on an extensive literature review, a novel theoretical framework, and six case studies of effective voice mechanisms.

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), within the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), works to support labor rights worldwide using trade tools, international engagement and technical assistance. It recently hosted the launch of the Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment, and Rights (M-POWER), a multilateral and multi-stakeholder initiative to explicitly strengthen labor rights and ensure that working families thrive in the global economy. This work is complemented by groundbreaking trade tools, and a variety of bipartite mechanisms aimed at supporting an enabling environment to realize genuine worker voice. The session offers real-world examples of supporting innovation in regulation, enforcement and access to remedy working with the public authorities, brands, employers and their organizations, trade unions and civil society.

Moderated by Laine Romero-Alston, Senior Advisor at USDOL, this session will bring together policymakers and researchers to share insights about efforts to advance worker voice worldwide. The first presentation by Chris Kazlauskas, Deputy Director at USDOL, will explore lessons learned from a mixed-methods thematic evaluation of 19 USDOL-funded projects across 12 countries, as well as insights from the novel Rapid Response Labor Mechanism under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the M-POWER initiative. Dr. Mark Anner, Professor of Labor and Employment Relations, Penn State University, will highlight research insights on the role of worker voice in the global economy and how effective mechanisms of worker voice can help historically disadvantaged workers. Sifat Amita, Graduate Student at Penn State University, will focus on Enforceable Brand Agreements, which are binding agreements between firms and labor in global supply chains. The presentations will be followed by commentary from Susan Hayter, Senior Researcher, ILO.

Over 75 years, ILAB has funded 151 projects to build capacity of governments, workers, and employers to innovate, regulate and advocate for labor rights. This presentation will share findings from an independent analysis of ILAB’s technical assistance projects. The methodology used a theory of change and data analysis to develop a rubric to categorize project characteristics and contextual factors. The presentation will discuss how ILAB has used the data generated from the evaluation to make evidence-based decisions on its programming, support innovation and constant improvement in regulation and enforcement, and address challenges in worker-centered programming. It will also reflect on innovative approaches to enforcing freedom of association and collective bargaining through the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It will finish with an overview of the M-POWER initiative and the contributions it may make in support of labor rights and collective worker voice.

Fundamental to the objectives of M-POWER is the strengthening of collective worker voice. Yet, there is much still to be learned about worker voice, especially given the challenges presented by today’s global economy. What are the components of worker voice and what are example of effective worker voice mechanisms? How might worker voice address power imbalances and challenges in the context of global supply chains, informality, platform work, and repression at work and in society? And which mechanisms are most effective in addressing historic patterns of marginalization based on gender, race, caste, and religion? This presentation will explore these questions and outline a framework for analyzing and evaluating worker voice mechanisms based on findings from three labor expert roundtables and six case studies produced by Penn State University’s Center for Global Workers’ Rights in 2023.

Among the six case studies on worker voice in the Penn State research project are Enforceable Brand Agreements (EBAs). EBAs are legally binding agreements between firms and labor in global supply chains. They are an important form of worker voice in cross-border production because trade unions form a part of the governance mechanism. EBAs can uphold workers’ voice in the decisions that affect their working conditions and rights, and they can provide a mechanism for resolving grievances and disputes related to workers' rights. Sifat Amita will present on one of the most paradigmatic cases of worker voice through an EBA, the Bangladesh/International Accord. She will also summarize and analyze the worker voice mechanisms in other EBAs, including the Fruit of the Loom agreement in Honduras, the Lesotho Agreements on freedom of association rights and the elimination of gender-based violence at work, the India Dindigul Agreement, and the Pakistan Accord.