ILO Making A Good Move

The International Labor Conference (ILC) took a decision that may eventually have a big impact on the millions of vulnerable people who work in global supply chains. The ILO agreed to set up a so-called “technical meeting” to consider what “guidance, programmes, measures, initiatives, or standards are needed to promote decent work” in global supply chains. That may sound like a small step for the ILO, a United Nations agency that brings together employers, workers, and governments, to take, but it opens the door to a new binding treaty requiring respect for workers’ rights in global supply chains. More than 450 million people work in jobs connected to global supply chains. People like “Rosa”, a thirteen-year-old girl I met in a makeshift mine in Ghana, digging for gold in an unstable mine; People like Hasina, a garment worker in Bangladesh who received death threats because she unionized workers. I feel hopeful for workers all around the world because of the ILO's commitment to have this meeting. What do you think?