Millions of dollars in foreign funding that a Department of Labor division operated to fight child labor and slave labor worldwide have been revoked by the Trump administration.
According to the Department of Labor, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs has contributed to the 78 million reduction in child laborers globally over the past 20 years, in part through funding international organizations.
However, according to the DOGE website, billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency discontinued all of ILAB’s awards, and an email acquired by The Associated Press from Department of Labor officials states that the grant-funded initiatives are being shut down.
The funds were given to non-governmental and non-profit groups operating abroad to guarantee that businesses adhered to global labor norms and to advance improved working conditions for the most disadvantaged.
The Labor Department website states that the abandoned projects were spanning industries and continents. In Uzbekistan, one donation helped put an end to a practice that forced farmers and children to gather cotton against their will.
In an effort to eradicate child labor in the tobacco business, another grantee provided labor rights training to Mexican agricultural workers. Reid Maki, coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition, a coalition of organizations that combat child labor both domestically and abroad, claims that a project in West Africa helped stop the practice of sending 10-year-old children to pick cacao beans with machetes.
Maki stated, “We were on a path to eliminating the scourge (of child labor), and now we are looking at the reverse if ILAB is defunded, if the programs are closed.” “We are witnessing a surge in child labor.”
The awards’ revocation is similar to the steps taken by the Trump administration and DOGE to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had financing for its development and humanitarian efforts abroad blocked or reduced.
The American people chose Trump with “a clear mandate to reduce federal government bloat and root out waste,” according to Department of Labor spokesman Courtney Parella, who referred to the funds as “paused.”
In an emailed statement, Parella stated, “Americans do not want their hard-earned tax dollars to be used to fund foreign handouts that prioritize other countries over America.” “We are committed to strengthening safeguards for children at home, investing in the American workforce, and enhancing oversight and accountability within this program and throughout the department.”
According to Catherine Feingold, international director of the AFL-CIO, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs spent over $500 million in grants researching and working to eradicate contemporary slavery among children and adults. ILAB and the labor federation collaborated to improve working conditions around the world.
The agency created yearly reports that documented products manufactured using child labor and tracked labor conditions. According to Feingold, American businesses depended on the study to ascertain whether their supply networks contained unethical labor.
Feingold stated, “You do not want American workers to compete with nations that use child labor and forced labor.” “I am concerned that more goods manufactured in the US and abroad will be made using child and forced labor. By permitting child labor and forced labor to proliferate in the global economy, we are regressing so much.
According to Maki of the Child Labor Coalition, an estimated 79 million children engage in hazardous child labor, and an estimated 160 million children engage in child labor, which is defined as work that could endanger them or impede their ability to learn.
According to him, youngsters who harvest cocoa beans in West Africa, for instance, must carry heavy loads, are exposed to hazardous chemicals, and run the risk of suffering serious injuries when they use machetes to crack open the seed pods they are holding.
“We observe children, frequently very young, working for little to no pay, sometimes with families, but frequently not,” Maki added.
ILAB is a vital ally in combating unfair trade and leveling the playing field for American companies and workers, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, a trade association that represents hundreds of American brands and retailers, and the Fair Labor Association, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing conditions in the apparel and footwear industries.
In a joint letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the groups stated, “We rely on the essential work of ILAB, whose purpose is to put America First by furthering the interests of American workers and American businesses.”
Workers at ILAB and other Labor Department departments are anticipating layoffs. According to an email acquired by The Associated Press, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer informed staff members in a number of Labor Department locations on Friday evening that they were being presented with the choices of voluntary early retirement or deferred resignation.
The warning was distributed to staff members in the Office of Public Affairs, the Women’s Bureau, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in addition to International Labor Affairs. They were informed that in the upcoming weeks, other announcements would likely be made, including intentions to reduce the force.
“If you remove all of the experience that has been accumulated over the years in that team, you will not be able to complete this work,” Reingold stated.
