FLA and AAFA call on U.S. Trade Representative to support the Bureau of International Labor Affairs

In a joint letter to the newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative, The Honorable Jamieson Greer, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) urged him to support the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), its grants, and its technical assistance programs.

“American workers and American businesses should not have to face unfair competition, in a race to the bottom, from labor markets whose profitability depends on forced labor or other labor abuses such as unsafe workplaces and blocking workers’ freedom of association.

ILAB grants, technical assistance, and support build institutions in countries around the world so that they can effectively protect their workers, raising labor standards and eliminating opportunities for less scrupulous foreign businesses to profit from labor abuses while American businesses and workers play by the rules. We, as American businesses, rely heavily on ILAB’s work to promote a fair global playing field for American workers and businesses. ILAB does this by enforcing the worker rights commitments of America’s trading partners and employing technical assistance and support to combat forced labor, including child labor and human trafficking, and other labor abuses.”

The associations, which together represent hundreds of American brands and retailers, extoll the virtues of ILAB’s work under the U.S./Mexico/Canada Agreement and the U.S./Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, among other essential efforts.