Dive Brief:
- The American Apparel & Footwear Association “expressed alarm” regarding the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to cancel contracts for the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, according to a Wednesday statement.
- Among the U.S. contracts canceled were the Global Better Work Program and Better Work Global, which were designed to improve working conditions and enforce labor rights in Haiti, Jordan, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam, per the AAFA release. ILAB was the sole funder of the Better Work Haiti and Better Work Jordan programs, an AAFA spokesperson said in an email.
- On Tuesday, the AAFA, which represents more than 1,000 fashion industry members, also signed onto a group letter sent to the U.S. Secretary of Labor urging for the reinstatement of the recently rescinded ILAB contract to improve labor rights in the Uzbekistan cotton industry.
Dive Insight:
The contract cancellations were announced on social media platform X by the Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday afternoon.
Great work today by @USDOL @SecretaryLCD @Sonderling47 cancelling $577M in “America Last” grants for $237M in savings, including:
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) March 26, 2025
- $10M for "gender equity in the Mexican workplace"
- $12.2M for "worker empowerment in South America"
- $6.25M for "improving respect for Worker's…
The AAFA’s statements this week follow a March 11 joint letter from the AAFA and the Fair Labor Association asking newly confirmed Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer to “preserve and promote” the ILAB and “its ongoing programs to support and defend American workers.”
The ILAB, both directly and through grants, provides worker training and education. The federal agency also is responsible for helping to uncover forced and child labor and helps to enforce free trade agreements, such as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
AAFA president and CEO Steve Lamar said in Wednesday’s statement that his organization’s members, as well as 3.5 million U.S. workers, rely on the ILAB to promote a fair global playing field.
“ILAB, through its grants, technical assistance, and direct support, works to build institutions in countries around the world so that they can effectively raise labor standards and eliminate opportunities for less scrupulous foreign businesses to profit from labor abuses while American businesses and workers play by the rules,” Lamar said. “With today’s elimination of ILAB’s grants, we will be moving from an even playing field to an uphill battle.”
In addition to the Better Work programs, the contract cancellations will impact multiple global safety and educational programs, per the AAFA. Those programs include a project in Lesotho designed to stop violence against women and a project in Brazil, Colombia, Cote D’Ivoire, Indonesia, and Guatemala that educates workers on rights and protections.
Contract cancellations also impact a program in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador designed to improve worker safety, overall work environment and discourage migration to the United States.
“ILAB’s work reflects the values of the American people and the Trump administration by putting American workers and businesses first,” Nate Herman, senior vice president of policy at AAFA, said in Wednesday’s statement. “Eliminating all ILAB grants instead puts American workers and American businesses last, leading to unfair competition with countries and foreign businesses that are not held to the same laws and standards for labor abuses, forced labor, human trafficking, and child labor.”
