For the first time since the International Trade Union Confederation began publishing its Global Rights Index, the United States has been placed on the organization's "Watch-list." According to the AFL-CIO's response to the 2026 report, this placement reflects a dramatic decline in worker protections under the current administration in the US: the suppression of collective bargaining rights for federal workers, the destruction of workplace safety agencies, and a deliberate crackdown on immigrant workers' rights. The United States, once a model of democratic capitalism, now gradually exists labor rights abuses domestically and emerges on the watch-list.
What makes this designation particularly noticeable is not only the scale of the attacks but their system. The administration has not targeted isolated programs or specific industries. Instead, it has pursued a coordinated strategy to undermine the legal system that has protected American workers for nearly a century. The National Labor Relations Board, established in 1935 to protect workers' right to organize, has been effectively undermined. Occupational safety protections have been rolled back at a moment when workplace hazards are only becoming more dangerous due to climate change and pressures of cost reduction. Also, immigrant workers, already among the most vulnerable members of the workforce, have been especially targeted, with their limited rights further restricted.
The AFL-CIO's statement claims that these attacks are not just economic but also a problem for democracy. "When workers are denied a voice and the freedom to organize," President Liz Shuler warns, "and are unable to hold the rich and powerful accountable, democracy itself is weakened." Indeed, collective bargaining has never been only about wages, though those matter a lot. It has been about creating an equilibrium that can stand up to big companies that would otherwise control workplaces and politics. The decline of unions has closely followed the rise of economic inequality and the grip of government by the wealthy.
Supporters of the administration might say these changes bring back flexibility for employers and cut unnecessary rules. But this argument is based on a wrong idea: that worker protections and economic success are opposites. The evidence shows otherwise. The three decades after the National Labor Relations Act saw the strongest union membership, the fastest wage growth, and the fairest sharing of economic gains. Since the attacks on unions began in the 1980s, wages have stayed flat while nearly all gains have gone to the richest. Worker protections are the way everyday people get a fair share.
From a social justice view, the administration's labor policies show a deep misunderstanding of freedom. Freedom, in this narrow view, is just the lack of government rules—the right of employers to set terms and workers to take them or struggle. But this ignores the huge power imbalance. A worker who fears punishment for speaking up is not free. A federal employee who cannot ask for fair overtime pay is not free. An immigrant worker who cannot report wage theft without fear of being sent away is not free. True freedom needs the shared power that comes from organizing with fellow workers.
Workers across the country are fighting back. But they face an administration openly against them and laws that have been weakened. The ITUC's decision to put the United States on its Watchlist shows this is not just a political disagreement. It is a drop in basic rights, a step backward that should worry anyone who believes democracy needs free workplaces. When one million federal workers lose bargaining rights, when safety agencies are cut, when immigrant workers are left unprotected, these are warnings about the health of American democracy itself.
Source: https://aflcio.org/press/releases/afl-cio-reacts-placement-united-states-ituc-global-rights-watchlist