Labor secretary cut funding to fight child labor—now she’s getting sued
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer pulled funding for programs that fought child labor, trafficking, slavery, and other forms of forced labor around the world—and bragged about it.
But now her shameful victory lap is coming back to haunt her, and it’s going to cost $80 million.
Three nonprofits filed a joint lawsuit Tuesday, claiming that Chavez-DeRemer and the Department of Labor’s funding cuts were illegal.
“Over [86] million children around the world are not working because of the International Labor Association’s programs—that have now been terminated,” Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center said during a press briefing Wednesday.
Daily Kos contacted the Department of Labor for comment but did not hear back.
Solidarity Center, which was one of the nonprofits axed during Chavez-DeRemer’s massive budget cuts, fought against child and forced labor in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan. Solidarity Center is joined by Global March Against Child Labour and American Institutes for Research in the lawsuit.
The Trump administration has claimed that nonprofits like Solidarity Center are an “America Last” program, because on the surface they aren’t directly helping U.S. workers—completely ignoring the fact that what happens in other countries impacts the United States.
As a matter of fact, preventing forced labor in other countries is extremely “America First.”
Programs like Solidarity Center and Global March Against Child Labour are designed so “American workers are not competing against forced labor, child labor, and abusive working conditions,” Bader-Blau said.
Republicans have long made the argument that these programs don’t deserve funding because they can’t actually prove any positive impact their making.
As for Solidarity Group, the nonprofit has made strides across the globe. In Mexico, it helped establish an 11% increase in wages, create labor centers, and train union organizers.
In Uzbekistan, a country with a long history of child and forced labor, the Solidarity Center was one of the founding members that helped push the government to implement reforms, which ultimately ended forced labor in 2021. The nonprofit continued to work in the country to sustain workers’ rights.
The Trump administration is decimating programs that help the good of humanity.
The Department of Labor canceled 69 active agreements with the Bureau of International Labor Affairs in 40 countries last month.
Solidarity Center alone has had to pull out of projects in Mexico supporting workers’ unions.
“The labor movements in countries around the world have fought to make sure that workers share in the prosperity of global trade, and that comes through eradicating extreme abuse in our global supply chains and fundamental affirmative commitments to workers’ rights to organize, advocate, and bargain to raise wages. Our end goal is that fight,” Bader-Blau said.
As organizations like Solidarity Center gear up for a fight, Bader-Blau said they’re not the only ones noticing the Trump administration’s egregious behavior—members of Congress are taking note, too.
“They’re watching this. They’re not happy,” Bader-Blau warned. “[They’re] preparing their own ways of resisting.”