Stephen D’Angelo

Jeffrey Vogt of the International Trade Union Confederation gave the ILR's School's Union Days keynote adress March 17.

Presenting the ILR’s School’s Union Days keynote address March 17, Jeffrey Vogt of the International Trade Union Confederation said, “Solidarity does work. We’ve seen it over and over again, even when things look quite bleak.”

Vogt, director of the union’s legal department, continued: “It may take some time, and the importance of international solidarity, solidarity of trade unions, students and others have been absolutely critical to make this work.”

Vogt provided his audience in Ives Hall with a broad perspective on organizing and worker justice at the international level, highlighting comparisons across the globe of challenges and successes.

Ileen DeVault, ILR professor of labor history, who chaired the Union Days committee, stressed that international perspective is crucial as “the ‘globalization’ of our economy and our workforce has been going on for quite a while. Workers are migrating around the world to find work, only to come up against brutal treatment because of ‘official’ policies or because of the lack of such,” DeVault said. “This has been an issue for a long time, but both national politics and world events have brought it into sharper focus this year.”

According to Vogt, “workers around the world, including here in the United States, are confronting several serious challenges in the realization of fundamental labor rights, or for that matter, simply getting paid for their work.”

“Economic insecurity is a reality for the majority of workers around the world,” he said. “Unemployment and underemployment remain, in many parts of the world, and those who do have work have seen wages stagnate and working conditions deteriorate.”

Vogt said there are several major challenges workers face. Inequality and global unemployment or underemployment fester as governments opt for austerity reforms that harm collective bargaining, a basic right for workers. And lack of accountability in global supply chains strains multinationals to cut costs to compete, increasing pressures on wages and working conditions.

Climate change has intensified the need to move millions of workers around the globe from “dirty” jobs to “clean” jobs. This has increased rhetoric on both sides of the political spectrum but, Vogt said, “there are no jobs on a dead planet.”

“Enough of the bleakness, let’s spend a little bit of time talking about some of the impressive gains that have been made by workers around the world,” he said.

He cited the Bangladesh Accord, an agreement designed to improve worker health and safety in that country’s garment industry, which was signed by trade unions and 200 brands. The global domestic workers movement has secured rights and protections for millions of domestic workers around the world, and reforms have been adopted by 22 countries.

Vogt said there is still a lot of work to be done as “the era of the cheap T-shirt has not ended.” He concluded, “Students here at ILR who are interested in trade unions, I encourage you to stick with the labor movement whether it’s here in the United States or internationally. I think it’s truly rewarding work, and I’m glad I’m part of it.”

Stephen D’Angelo is a marketing communications specialist at the ILR School.