Argentina’s UOM fights back against judicial intervention

Víctor Pesino and María Dora González, the same labour court judges who endorsed the labour reform introduced by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, issued a ruling against IndustriALL affiliate UOM on 22 May. The judges declared the election held at the Zárate-Campana branch to be invalid, annulled the national re-election of the general secretary, Abel Furlán, and ordered a 180-day period of intervention.

“This judicial intervention did not happen overnight. It is the culmination of a political, judicial and corporate operation that we have been denouncing for months and that has always had a sole objective: to bring the UOM to heel, weaken our ability to fight for our rights, ensure that employers are able to pay starvation wages and that workers are unable to organize,”

UOM said in an official statement.

The court ruling came as UOM was engaged in collective bargaining with the sector’s main employers to defend metalworkers’ wages. Workers have suffered two years of falling pay.

UOM has vowed to fight back against this attack and will defeat

“this attempt at political intervention disguised as a court ruling. (…) We will respond with trade union democracy, participation, organization and struggle. We will overturn this intervention just as the Argentine labour movement has overturned every historical attempt to subjugate it.”

On 26 May, UOM’s executive board rejected the intervention. The union has launched a process to restore statutory compliance and declared a state of alert and mobilization. In line with its statutes, the union appointed officials to ensure normal operations pending full normalization.

On 26 May, unions, including IndustriALL affiliates, staged a “hug-in” in front of UOM headquarters. The action was a direct protest against the court ruling that removed Furlán and placed the union under judicial intervention.

In a letter to Furlán, IndustriALL’s general secretary Atle Høie expressed his solidarity with Argentina’s workers. It condemned the court’s decision and urged authorities to ensure full respect for union freedom and to comply with international conventions.

“This decision constitutes serious interference in trade union autonomy and sets a dangerous precedent for trade union freedom and democracy in Argentina.

“IndustriALL notes with concern that the use of legal proceedings to oust legitimately elected trade union leaders constitutes a way of cracking down on organizations that defend wages, collective bargaining, domestic production and labour rights. We express our full solidarity with Argentina’s metalworkers, with our colleague Abel Furlán, and with the legitimately elected leadership of the UOMRA.”

IndustriALL calls for sanctions and responsible exit at ILO Myanmar session

The special sitting of the Committee on the Application of Standards addressed violations of Convention No. 87 on freedom of association and Convention No. 29 on forced labour, following the invocation of Article 33 of the ILO Constitution last year.

Addressing the ILC, IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie highlighted the situation of the approximately 450,000 workers in Myanmar’s garment sector, who earn less than US$100 per month, around half of what is needed to survive.

The intervention detailed how garment factories in industrial zones operate under martial law, with workers subject to military checkpoints, intrusive searches including of mobile phones and sexual harassment. Workers are also exposed to forced unpaid overtime and the risk of military conscription, with factories sharing personal data with the military.

Atle Høie warned that military-backed organizations are falsely claiming to represent IndustriALL’s affiliate, the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), and called for these parallel structures not to be recognized as legitimate worker representatives.

The garment sector plays a key role as a source of foreign exchange for the junta due to a regime law requiring all incoming foreign exchange to be converted at a preferential rate within 24 hours.

Myanmar enjoys preferential access to the European Union market under the Generalized System of Preferences and the Everything but Arms scheme. Fifty-four per cent of Myanmar’s apparel exports go to the EU, with the UK and Japan accounting for much of the rest.

Despite the ILC invoking Article 33 last year, the ILO’s strongest sanction, the EU maintains its system of preferences. The EU also funds a programme called MADE in Myanmar to support manufacturing in the country. Unions in the country have condemned the programme as a sham, designed to whitewash labour rights abuses and provide political cover for garment brands. These brands continue to source from Myanmar, drawn by cheap labour and convenient production conditions.

Said IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie:

“IndustriALL wants to see an end to preferential trade access, including under the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences and Everything but Arms scheme.

We are calling on garment brands to commit to a responsible exit from Myanmar.”

The session drew strong interventions from Myanmar trade union representatives and workers’ group delegates from across regions. The Myanmar government was not accredited and made no response, though Russia and some other governments registered their disagreement with the Article 33 proceedings.

Stop union busting at TaiDoc, Taiwan R.O.C.

After years of discriminatory treatment, including alleged restrictions on their freedom of movement and the dismissal of a pregnant worker, women workers at the medical electronics company formed the Taidoc Technology Labor Union (TTLU) in August 2025. They won reinstatement, they won four labour cases and the Taiwan Ministry of Labour fined TaiDoc NTD 200,000 (US$6,371) for violating gender equality and labour dispute laws.

TaiDoc’s response was to intensify the attack. The company terminated union president Elizabeth Basas and five executive committee members in February 2026, forcing Elizabeth out of the company hostel within hours. Under pressure, TaiDoc reinstated all six in March after the union filed complaints with the Ministry of Labour and a judicial challenge.

According to TTLU, TaiDoc arranged for 100 employees to join the union in an attempt to flood and take over it. When that failed, a group of those employees held an unauthorised general assembly during working hours and claimed to have replaced the union leadership. The local labour office rejected the move.

The company then created an entirely separate employer-controlled union. Together with this yellow union they launched multiple lawsuits against TTLU officers for defamation and forgery, demanding NTD 10 million (US$317,086) in compensation. Workers have been pressured to sign statements denying union membership.

Lennon Wang, TTLU general secretary and IndustriALL affiliate Republic of China Metalworkers’ Union spokesperson, says:

“TaiDoc must stop the union busting; drop the lawsuits, shut down the fake union and recognize TTLU. Workers are owed their recruitment fees and a seat at the bargaining table.”

IndustriALL ICT, electrical and electronics director Alexander Ivanou says:

“TaiDoc has discriminated against migrant women workers and restricted their freedom of movement, and is now trying to destroy the union they built. The Ministry of Labour must act, and TaiDoc must begin collective bargaining immediately.”

Why the right to strike matters

Updated May 2026 to reflect the ICJ advisory opinion.

The right to strike is an essential part of freedom of association and is protected under ILO Convention 87. Withholding labour is a crucial negotiating tool during the bargaining process, its main objective is to change the balance of power between workers and the employer.

Here are five key reasons why we need the right to strike:

  1. Striking is a last resort but sometimes the only tool for workers to protect themselves.
  2. To avoid being at the complete mercy of employers.
  3. To give more of a balance between worker and employer power.
  4. Without it, more and more governments will ban industrial action and punish people who dare to strike.
  5. Most strikes are over pay and better working conditions. Without the threat of strike action, corporations will be able to make bigger profits, while working conditions will get worse.

The right to strike confirmed under international law

In a landmark ruling in May 2026, the International Court of Justice confirmed that the right to strike is protected under ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association. The advisory opinion, the result of more than a decade of campaigning by IndustriALL and fellow global unions, settles a long-running dispute with employer groups who had sought to strip the right to strike from Convention 87’s protections. While advisory opinions are not legally binding, they carry significant authority. With Convention 87 ratified by 158 countries and embedded in UN labour standards, OECD guidelines and international trade agreements, the ruling has far-reaching implications for workers worldwide.

 

Photo 1 : Jack Quillin – Los Angeles California 05 26 2023 Writers Guild of America Grève dans le centre de Los Angeles – Picket Signs
Photo 2: Ringo Chiu – People holding signs take part in a protest at the University of California Los Angeles campus Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022 in Los Angeles.

Fight for jailed Belarusian unionists continues

The ILC is the ILO’s annual governing body. It brings together government, employer and worker representatives from its 187 member states. The Broken Chair has become a regular gathering point for trade union solidarity actions during the conference. For example, demonstrations on Belarus were organized due to absence of any progress in the country on regular basis for a number of years.

Workers in Belarus face punishment simply for defending their rights. Since the 2020 pro-democracy movement, the government has dismantled all independent unions. It has dissolved the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and its member organizations including the Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (SPM), the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP) and the Belarusian Trade Union of Radio-Electronic Industry Workers (REP), an IndustriALL affiliate. Also, the Free Belarusian Trade Union (SPB) was dissolved.

Dozens of union leaders and activists have been jailed on fabricated charges, with many still imprisoned. In April 2025, global unions stepped up pressure on the Belarusian government through coordinated solidarity actions and formal letters to Belarusian embassies.

The demonstration coincides with Belarus appearing before the ILC’s Committee on the Application of Standards for a special sitting. This is a significant moment of international scrutiny. Moreover, questions are being raised in the ILO credentials committee about the credibility of the official Belarusian labour delegation. This delegation is composed of members of the government-controlled national federation who do not represent workers’ interests.

This follows the Article 33 procedure invoked against Belarus in 2023. That procedure obliges ILO member states to take all possible steps to ensure Belarus implements the recommendations of ILO Commission of Inquiry first established in 2003. Despite sustained international pressure, including a special ILC session in June 2025, the appointment of an ILO special envoy and a further Governing Body follow-up decision in March 2026, Belarus has persistently failed to act. It has not implemented the commission’s recommendations. In addition, it has refused to allow an ILO mission into the country. It has not permitted independent doctors to visit imprisoned trade unionists to assess their health.

Maksim Pazniakou, the BNP chairman, said:

“International solidarity really works, we see it today. We continue to come here repeatedly every year. All imprisoned unionists must be released. Let’s bring freedom of association back to Belarus.”

IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, said:

“We are very happy that Aliaksandr Yarashuk is with us. The struggle has never ended and will continue until all our comrades in prison are freed, until Belarus becomes a democratic country and until justice arrives in the workplaces. We will never give up. We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters.”

Aliaksandr Yarashuk, BKDP president said:

“Colleagues, friends and comrades, I am very happy to welcome you here. Thank you for coming to support our friends, comrades and Belarusian trade unionists who are in jail. Thanks to your support I am finally free after spending three and a half years in prison. Let’s focus on the next step, which is to free the remaining prisoners, so that they too can join us next year.”

Mauritius garment maker out of style on migrant workers’ rights

Fashion Heights, an international franchise with over 40 stores on the island, which sells branded garments, shoes and accessories, is facing serious allegations of workers’-rights violations. These allegations arose after dismissed workers raised complaints with CTSP.

The CTSP, an IndustriALL affiliate, runs the Migrant Resource Centre in Port Louis. This centre is renowned for fighting for the rights of migrant workers from countries that include Madagascar, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Recently, they have also supported workers from the Philippines. 

Dismissed, unpaid and forced to leave

On 9 January, the workers were dismissed during their probationary period. Their termination letters acknowledged obligations by the employer to pay final salaries, notice pay and outstanding overtime. 

According to the CTSP, the workers have since left the country without getting paid, despite repeated follow-ups with the ministry. During their last days in Mauritius, the workers had no wages coming in. Moreover, employer-provided accommodation was withdrawn and workers were left to rely on friends and informal support networks for food and shelter.

Twenty other Filino workers continue to work under exploitation for fear of being forced to leave Mauritius and having their passports red marked. This red mark means they will not be allowed to visit Mauritius in the future. CTSP describes these violations as modern slavery.

Workers employed at Fashion Heights say they were routinely made to work between 10-12 hours a day. Hours rose to around 14 in mid-December when business was at its peak. They received no overtime pay for those extra hours, which is in breach of Section 24 of the Workers’ Rights Act 2019. The complaints have also been taken to the ministry of labour. 

Further, the workers say the company held onto their passports and identity documents, limiting free movement. Requests for annual and sick leave were refused or discouraged, contrary to Sections 45 and 46 of the same Act. Also, payslips were not provided, making it impossible for workers to verify whether their wages, which are subject to deductions for food and accommodation, were correctly calculated.

Complaints can lead to repatriation

The six workers formally lodged complaints. Several continued in their jobs for fear of losing income, accommodation and of jeopardizing their immigration status. One worker says she was told that complaining could result in repatriation and the loss of employer-provided housing. 

Under the Non-Citizens (Employment Restriction Act 1973), a migrant worker’s right to remain in Mauritius is tied to their employer. Losing a job can mean losing a home and a legal right to stay on the island. CTSP argues that this dependency gives corrupt employers an excuse to violate workers’ rights that are protected by the law.

Reeaz Chuttoo, CTSP president said:

“It seems that labour standards exist only on paper for migrant workers. But the union will fight to make them exist in practice by campaigning for the enforcing of the Workers’ Rights Act.”

Paule-France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub-Saharan Africa added:

“Mauritius markets itself as a rule-of-law business hub. But this is not the reality for migrant workers. International and national labour standards must be implemented to end migrant worker exploitation.”

From Alabama to Argentina: workers’ rights in freefall

“The crisis for workers’ rights is no longer confined to the margins, it is now at the heart of democracies. Workers and their unions are fighting back. The struggle for workers’ rights is the fight for democracy itself,”

says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.

Three out of four countries deny workers the right to organize. Half of all countries arrested or detained workers for exercising their union rights. Violent attacks on workers rose by six per cent. Civil liberties violations, arrests, persecution and killing of trade union leaders, increased in 50 per cent of countries.

The findings reflect what members of IndustriALL affilaites experience. Union busting is explicitly identified as a tactic in the index, including in Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia and Spain. In the United States, Mercedes-Benz spent more than U$600,000 on specialist anti-union firms at its Alabama plant while publicly claiming to respect workers’ rights. The US watchlist placement confirms that case is not an exception. It is part of a systemic pattern.

IndustriALL affiliates on the frontline

Argentina’s rating has collapsed from 3 to 5 in just two years, one of the steepest declines recorded. The country now appears on the ten worst countries list for the first time. IndustriALL affiliate the Unión Obrera Metalúrgica (UOMRA) is facing a judicial intervention to remove its democratically elected leadership, in direct violation of ILO Convention 87. IndustriALL has written to the UOMRA in solidarity and called on the Argentine authorities to respect union autonomy.

Other findings include:

Says Atle Høie:

“Behind every one of these numbers is a worker who was arrested, a union leader who was threatened, a workplace where people were too afraid to organize. This is happening in countries that call themselves democracies. IndustriALL will not stand by while our affiliates and their members are criminalized for doing what every worker has the right to do.”

Young workers find their voice at IndustriALL

The landmark meeting represents the culmination of years of work to give young workers a formal voice within IndustriALL structures. Faye Dagman from the Philippines was elected female co-chair for 2026-2027, with Tiara Amigorena from Argentina as her substitute. The two will switch roles for 2028-2029, when Tiara Amigorena takes over as co-chair and Faye Dagman becomes her substitute. Andrea Megazzini from Italy was elected male co-chair for the full 2026-2029 term, with Kelvin Ayemhenre from Nigeria as his substitute for the entire period. Isaac Vasquez from Nicaragua was elected secretary, with Lesedi Seboni from South Africa as his substitute.

Leadership: the time for youth is now

IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Christina Olivier, opened with a strong message of support, pointing to serious challenges facing young workers globally: high youth unemployment, particularly in the Global South, the spread of precarious work and short-term contracts and the rapid transformation of work through digitalization and automation.

“If we are unable to organize young workers, very soon we will talk about IndustriALL Global Union as an organization that existed a few years ago. That is why organizing young workers into our unions remains one of our key priorities,”

said Christina Olivier. 

IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie, noted that youth work across all regions had made the breakthrough possible. “The Congress finally gave youth a formal place in this organization,” he said. 

Two youth representatives will now sit permanently on the IndustriALL Executive Committee as official members, with the first meeting taking place on 11-12 June 2026 in Geneva. 

“The whole point of trade unions is that we need to be representative. If we’re going to make the right decisions, we need to listen to all voices,”

said Atle Høie.  

Regions report

Regions gave brief reports on their current work and future priorities.

Sub-Saharan Africa has had a youth committee since 2019 and is currently researching the impact of platform work on young workers in the mining and energy sectors. 

The Middle East and North Africa are preparing for its first in-person meeting in Morocco, focusing on leadership development and youth participation, including amplifying the voices of workers in Palestine. 

Latin America and the Caribbean held its founding meeting in Uruguay in April 2026, prioritizing new organizing strategies, mobilizing unionized workers and building capacity. 

Europe has had a youth structure for several years, currently holding two non-voting seats on the IndustriALL Europe Executive Committee, with the goal of securing voting rights at the next Congress. 

Asia Pacific recently merged two sub-regional working groups into a single regional youth committee, with a two-year transition period agreed to integrate the structures. 

New co-chairs ready to act

Both Faye Dagman (PIGLAS, Philippines) and Tiara Amigorena (CNTI CTAA, Argentina) called for strong teamwork and expressed their commitment to securing better conditions for the next generation of workers.

What next?

The global youth committee will meet again on 9 July and 8 September 2026, with the primary task of reviewing and finalizing the IndustriALL draft youth policy for submission to the IndustriALL Executive Committee in November. The committee adopted its terms of reference, which sets out its working method. The global youth committee will meet in person every two years and at least once a year online.

The union busting playbook: exposed

The scale of the industry is staggering. A recent article in The Guardian quoted a 2026 report by the Economic Policy Institute which found that US employers spend more than US$1.5bn a year on union opposition efforts. This includes US$442m annually on specialist union-avoidance consultants alone. Amazon spent US$26.6m on such consultants in 2025. A previous EPI report found that US employers are charged with violating labour law in 41.5 per cent of all union elections. Union density in the US has fallen from 20.3 per cent in 1983 to ten per cent today. The union-busting industry bears significant responsibility for that decline. As one of the report’s authors put it, this is millions or even billions of dollars that is not going towards workers or investing in their workplace.

The tactics and why they are wrong

Anti-union campaigns follow a recognizable pattern of tactics designed to suppress workers’ free choice through fear, misinformation and pressure.

Mandatory captive-audience meetings. Employers force workers to attend meetings during working hours where management delivers one-sided anti-union messaging. Workers cannot leave and there is no right of reply. At Mercedes-Benz in Alabama, this was one of the tactics so egregious that IndustriALL withdrew from its global framework agreement with the company. In the agreement Mercedes-Benz had explicitly committed to neutrality.

Scripted one-on-one pressure. Supervisors, coached by outside consultants, are deployed to have individual conversations with workers. The message is always the same: a union will put your job at risk, damage your relationship with management, threaten investment.

Paid consultants and surveillance. Specialist firms are brought onto company premises. Workers often do not know who these people are or who is paying them. Increasingly, digital surveillance is deployed alongside them: monitoring social media, flagging workers who discuss union matters and infiltrating online groups to track organizing activity.

Dismissal of union activists. Firing workers for union activity is one of the most powerful weapons in the playbook. It sends a clear message to every other worker watching. At the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, a 25-year employee with a spotless record was disciplined for telling colleagues he had union cards. The leading organizer, Jeremy Kimbrell, who had worked at the plant for 26 years, was fired in February 2025 on what the UAW describes as a fabricated pretext.

Law firms as instruments of union avoidance. The law firms and consultants at the heart of this industry openly advertise their services. Their own promotional materials describe “defeating a union” as “gratifying,” promise to help employers maintain “union-free workplaces” and offer to get workers “to vote non-union.” Several have documented records of unlawful conduct in previous campaigns. These are findings by federal labour judges that were publicly available before the companies that hired them signed the contracts.

A global problem in our sectors

Union busting is not isolated to the US. IndustriALL affiliates around the world encounter it.

Türkiye is one of the worst environments in the world for union organizing. Unions document dismissals, threats and employer interference across manufacturing and garment sectors. Workers at Digel Textile joined the garment workers union TEKSIF after it was confirmed as the legitimate collective bargaining agent. The company responded by dismissing four leading union members and threatening workers with factory closure if they did not resign. Metal-workers’ union Birleşik Metal-İş was certified as the official bargaining agent at SAG Hidrolik. The company dismissed three union members without cause and threatened workers that the factory would close if they stayed in the union.

In Germany, Adidas left the sectoral collective bargaining agreement by downgrading its industry membership to avoid collective bargaining obligations — a decision whose repercussions extend across its global supply chains.

In Malaysia, IndustriALL filed a formal ILO complaint in March documenting union busting across twelve companies in the electronics, semiconductor, aerospace, automotive and paper sectors. Workers at Nexperia voted for their union with nearly 96 per cent support. At Boeing Composites Malaysia, 85 per cent voted in favour. Yet winning the ballot was not the end of the struggle. Companies dismissed workers and threatened migrant workers with deportation. Companies weaponized the courts, filing challenge after challenge to delay union recognition by years, in one case more than a decade.

Workers have the right to know

ILO Conventions 87 and 98 enshrine the right to organize and bargain collectively. IndustriALL embeds it in the global framework agreements it negotiates with multinationals. Those companies have committed, in writing, to uphold it everywhere they operate.

Says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie:

“Union busting violates those commitments. When a company signs a global framework agreement promising neutrality and then deploys tactics designed to defeat union campaigns, it is not navigating a legal grey area. It is breaking its word and undermining a fundamental human right. Freedom of association is not optional and it is not a local exception.”

Trade unions demand a voice in Africa’s industrial future

Presidential panel

The annual meetings also gave neighbouring heads of state a platform for bilateral talks. Presidents Denis Sassou N’Guesso, Faustin-Archange Toudera and Brice Oligui Nguema, of the Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Gabon respectively, used the occasion to advance discussions on economic co-operation, renewable energy and regional integration.

A delegation comprising representatives, from IndustriALL Global Union Sub-Saharan Africa, the International Trade Union Confederation Africa (ITUC-Africa) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Trade Union Competence Centre for Sub-Saharan Africa, called on the AfDB to embed the ILO decent work agenda items like job creation, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue into every project the bank finances.

They also demanded stronger enforcement of the bank’s existing labour safeguards, which already oblige borrowers to comply with ILO core labour standards, protect workers’ rights, maintain occupational health and safety protections and extend those obligations to subcontracted workers. On paper, the framework exists. In practice, unions argue, it is implemented inconsistently.

The delegation also backed formal integration of economic, social and governance (ESG) criteria into lending decisions, a position that aligns with AfDB president Sidi Ould Tah’s own strategy, which includes harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend as one of his four cardinal priorities. With the continent adding roughly 20 million young people to its labour force every year, the unions argued that the decent work agenda is not a distraction from these ambitions but a precondition for them. Africa’s youth bulge needs decent jobs to be created. An industrialization drive that generates precarious employment or suppresses collective bargaining will not create decent work.

Economics of resilience

The AfDB’s chief economist and vice president, Kevin Urama, presented the 2026 African Economic Outlook at the conference. The headline finding that African economies projected to grow at 4.2 per cent in 2026 before rebounding to 4.4 per cent in 2027 told a story of resilience against considerable adversity. At the same time, the broader economic narrative cannot be separated from the African Development Bank’s commitment to supporting decent work principles in member states.

Yet the meetings’ theme, Mobilizing Africa’s development financing at scale in a fragmented world, reflects a sharper external reality: financial resources are tight, official development assistance has declined and supply chains are less predictable. Against this backdrop, the union delegation’s push to embed social standards into the bank’s project pipeline is important. Indeed, driving African Development Bank decent work policies is a vital ingredient of financial resilience.

Unions’ demands on labour standards

One of the unions’ critical engagements was a meeting with Kevin Urama, focused on developing a formal dialogue framework around evidence-based approaches to industrialization. This will provide a mechanism for giving organized labour a voice in how the bank thinks about growth, not just how it implements projects. The importance of African Development Bank decent work initiatives was a central point in these conversations.

The unions were alert to being brought in only at the end of the pipeline. This reflects why African Development Bank decent work must be prioritized earlier in project planning phases.

“We don’t want to be called in through the Independent Review Mechanism of the AfDB when things have gone wrong. We want to be at the table when decisions are being made,”

emphasized Joel Odigie, ITUC-Africa general secretary.

As emphasized, a partnership between African Development Bank and decent work advocates can only strengthen outcomes.

A follow-up meeting is scheduled for July in Abidjan to work through a more substantive engagement framework. The focus will remain on how African Development Bank decent work values can be embedded in ongoing labor dialogues.

Discussions also turned to Mission 300, the joint AfDB and World Bank initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. Unions questioned whether ambition will be matched by meaningful changes in delivery and raised concerns on privatization and job creation for the youth. Crucially, Mission 300 was framed within the context of African Development Bank decent work goals for job and social outcomes.

A meeting with Francisca Tatchouop Belobe, the African Union commissioner for economic development, trade, tourism, industry and minerals, underscored the strategic importance of beneficiation of critical energy transition minerals and the need for trade unions to engage actively with the African Minerals Development Centre. The green economy’s mineral backbone which includes lithium, cobalt, manganese and graphite is concentrated in Africa and processing those resources locally rather than exporting them raw is one of the most direct routes to creating the quality industrial jobs that young Africans need, argued unions. Equally, African Development Bank decent work priorities support resource beneficiation for local employment.

In parallel civil society meetings the union delegation argued that Just Transition, anchored in the ILO’s Just Transition Guidelines, carries specific obligations: skills retraining, social dialogue, community consultation and equitable distribution of gains from the green economy. For a continent where the median age is under 20, those retraining and skilling provisions are not a safety net for workers being displaced; they are the foundation for a generation entering work for the first time. African Development Bank decent work principles can help ensure this future is equitable and inclusive for all youth.

“The AfDB is Africa’s most powerful development finance catalyst. Decent work must be its compass. This is why we are asking for a formal labour forum,”

said Paule-France Ndessomin, IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa regional secretary.

The AfDB was founded in 1964 with 81 member countries and has grown its capital from US$94 billion in 2014 to US$318 billion in 2024.