The American Dream, on a Watchlist
June 9, 2026
Image courtesy of the 2026 ITUC Global Rights Index
The United States was placed on a watchlist last week by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) amid mounting concerns over its treatment of all kinds of workers, a stark indication of how far the country has retreated from its role as a global champion of workers’ rights.
The ITUC Global Rights Index ranks 151 countries on their protection of workers’ rights based on 97 indicators drawn from International Labor Organization (“ILO”) conventions and jurisprudence. The US’ most recent ranking of 4 (“systematic violations of rights”)—its worst since the index began—is the result of US laws that permit anti-union discrimination, allow significant barriers to the establishment of workers’ organizations, exclude agricultural workers and domestic workers from the National Labor Relations Act protections, and do not specifically protect the right to strike, among others.
Responding to the downgrade, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler noted that “the stripping of 1 million federal workers’ collective bargaining rights, the gutting of workplace health and safety agencies and protections, the eviscerating of the National Labor Relations Board, [and] the crackdown on immigrant workers’ rights” exemplify how the US is becoming “less safe and less free for working people.”
The US’ placement on the watchlist coincides with a significant moment for the status of workers’ rights in international law. On May 21, the International Court of Justice (“ICJ” or “the Court”) issued an advisory opinion affirming that international law protects workers’ right to strike. The ICJ’s opinion resolved more than a decade of internal stalemate at the ILO over whether the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) (the “Convention”) protects the right to strike. The ILO’s Employer Group had long argued that because the Convention does not explicitly mention the right to strike, it does not protect it. The Workers Group disagreed.
Siding with the Workers Group, the Court held that strikes fall within the ordinary meaning of activities that workers’ organizations are entitled to take under the Convention. The Court emphasized that while its opinion does not define the scope of the right or permissible conditions on exercising it, the foundational question is now settled. The Court also held that it will give “great weight” to the ILO’s findings about whether Member States are complying with ILO conventions. As Jeffrey Vogt, the Solidarity Center’s Rule of Law Director, points out, “[t]hat is a powerful endorsement [of the ILO’s supervisory system], and one that is useful beyond this specific case.” In practice, thisat means the ILO’s supervisory bodies can more confidently challenge national laws that prohibit or impose disproportionate restrictions on striking, or violate other ILO conventions, in states which have signed the relevant Conventions. ICJ advisory opinions are not binding, meaning the ILO is still free to decide what the Convention protects. However, as the ICJ itself explains, advisory opinions “carry great legal weight and moral authority,” and “contribute to the clarification and development of international law[.]”
The ICJ’s ruling thereby solidifies a global standard against which the US record on worker’s rights looks increasingly poor. The US response to these events has been to disengage. The ILO has rescinded the appointment of a US official to serve as deputy director general, a role traditionally held by an American, because the US—formerly the organization’s largest contributor—has fallen behind on its dues. The ILO is facing severe funding shortages, and while it has clarified that the appointment can still move forward if the US “settl[es] its arrears,” that outcome is far from certain.
The concept of the “American Dream” has long been premised on the dignity and achievements of workers. If the US wants to continue to project that identity, and the values that underwrite it, it cannot afford to absent itself from the organization that protects workers around the world. With the annual ILO Labor Conference currently underway in Geneva, the US should pay its dues, reclaim its seat at the table, and recommit to the workers’ rights it has long claimed to represent.
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