ITF Press Release 09 Apr 2026
The global labour movement,1 approaches the
2026 International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) at a critical juncture for
workers worldwide. We are navigating a period defined by deepening economic
inequality, climate-driven displacement, geopolitical fragmentation, and a
sustained global assault on democracy, multilateralism, and fundamental trade
union rights.
Across regions, migration is increasingly shaped by forces
and dynamics beyond workers’ control - armed conflicts, war, and instability,
alongside climate breakdown and economic exclusion. For many, migration is not
a free choice but a necessity for survival.
In this volatile context, migration governance cannot be
treated merely as an exercise in border management, nor can it be reduced to a
transactional system of “skills mobility” designed solely to fill labour
shortages. Migration is fundamentally a matter of labour rights, human dignity,
and global equity. Migrant workers sustain economies and essential sectors
across borders, yet in times of crises, they are often the first to lose
protection, income and security. The reality is that the global economy relies
heavily on the toil and sweat of migrant workers, yet these same workers are
routinely excluded from the protections of national labour laws, pushed into
the informal economy, and subjected to highly exploitative working conditions
and deceitful recruitment and sponsorship systems. They build and sustain
economies, yet remain structurally excluded.
To address these systemic failures, the global labour
movement has consistently fought for social, economic and environmental justice
– a framework that guarantees climate-friendly jobs, rights for all workers,
universal social protection, equality, and inclusion. Coherent, rights-based
migration governance is an essential pillar of this vision. When migrant
workers are denied fundamental rights or structurally silenced by precarious
visa regimes, it does not just harm the migrant workers and their familes; it
degrades the democratic fabric of our societies, undermines collective
bargaining, and puts downward pressure on working conditions for everyone. For
the labour movement, defending migrant workers is inseparable from the broader
fight for democracy and shared prosperity. True workplace democracy requires
that every worker, regardless of their passport or visa status, has the power
to organize, speak up, and demand their fair share of the wealth they
create.
Assessing the 2026 Zero Draft
While the inaugural 2022 Progress Declaration made important
strides by anchoring migration governance in decent work and fair recruitment,
the 2026 Zero Draft presents a deeply concerning landscape. We acknowledge and
welcome the areas of progress—particularly the expanded focus on integrating
migrants into national social protection systems and the stronger language
condemning recruitment fees and debt bondage.
However, we are profoundly alarmed by the structural
regressions present in the draft. The text exhibits a dangerous shift in
framing, moving away from a rights-based approach toward technocratic “labour
market governance.” By diluting explicit references to the International Labour
Organization (ILO) core conventions, removing robust calls for labour
inspection, and largely omitting the enabling rights of freedom of association
and collective bargaining, the current draft risks treating migrant workers as disposable
commodities rather than human beings and rights-holders.
We remind Member States that international labor standard
protections apply to ALL workers regardless of their immigration or other
status. The 2026 Progress Declaration must not regress. It must
deliver on the promise of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) by cementing
international labour standards as the non- negotiable foundation of all
migration policies. To that end, we present the following urgent demands.
Demand 1 – Collective Worker Voice and Participation
- Right
to Freedom of Association: We remain alarmed that the 2026 Zero Draft
largely omits freedom of association and the right to organise and
collectively bargain (ILO Conventions 87 and 98). These are fundamental
enabling rights that shift power dynamics, allowing workers - importantly
also migrant workers - to protect their interests, negotiate fair wages,
and defend themselves against exploitation through collective action.
- Meaningful
Social Dialogue: Migration policies and programmes designed
without trade unions will inevitably fail workers. States must heed the
call to engage in authentic, institutionalised social dialogue with trade
unions, migrant-workers-led organisations and independent workers’
organisations at the local, national, and multilateral levels to develop
safe and fair migration frameworks, including rights-based pathways.
- Worker-informed
BLAs: The participation of unions and worker-led organisations in
the design and negotiation of Bilateral Labour Agreements (BLAs) is
crucial. Currently, the exclusive involvement of governments, employers
and industry lobbies creates a deep imbalance, resulting in the exclusion
of worker voices and a lack of a rights-based approach.
- Tripartite
Mechanisms: The Declaration must reaffirm the unique and critical
importance of the ILO’s tripartite structure (bringing together
governments, employers’, and workers’ organisations) as the necessary and
only legitimate foundation for building fair global labor migration
governance.
Demand 2 – Commitment to Decent Work, International
Labour Standards and Human Rights
- Restore
Normative Anchors: The 2026 Zero Draft dangerously dilutes
explicit references to international labour standards. We call for the
final Declaration to explicitly centre ILO core conventions and the ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work as the absolute
bedrock of migration policy.
- Strengthen
Inspection and Enforcement: We note a clear regression in the 2026 draft
regarding labour inspection capacities. Rights on paper are meaningless
without enforcement. States must recommit to robust, fully funded labour
inspection mechanisms to monitor workplace conditions—including in the
informal economy and domestic work sector —and establish firewall
protections so migrants can report abuse without fear of detention and
deportation.
- Climate
and Social Justice for All: Migration must be a choice, not an act of
desperate survival. We call for investment in quality, equitable public
services – including inclusive and adequately funded public education as a
pillar of social justice - economic diversification that broadens access
to decent work, and jointly- developed green industrial and just
transition policies that build resilience for workers and their
communities in origin countries. This is essential to ensure that all
people can live, thrive and work with dignity, without being pushed into
migration by intersecting climate and social injustice.
- The
Right to Stay: States should commit to sustainable development goals that
include the creation of decent work and living wages in origin
communities/countries so that workers, their families and communities have
a right to stay and are not pushed to migrate due to economic coercion or
lack of viable options at home.
Demand 3 – Non-Discrimination and Universal Social
Protection
- Equality
of Treatment: We acknowledge the 2026 draft’s recognition of the acute
vulnerability of workers in the informal, domestic, and care sectors,
where many women, racialized and youth migrant workers are concentrated in
low-wage work. States must translate this recognition into policy by
enforcing pay equity and by ensuring these workers have equal legal
protection, minimum wage guarantees, and occupational health and safety
standards.
- Social
Protection Portability: We welcome the 2026 draft’s expanded
focus on social protection inclusion. However, it is crucial that this
inclusion ensures that all migrant workers, regardless of their migration
status or the sector in which they work, are included in the scope of
social protection portability. States must urgently operationalize the
portability of benefits (including pensions and healthcare) through
bilateral and multilateral agreements, strictly aligned with ILO
Convention No. 102.
- Portable
Justice: The Declaration must go further in calling for robust
“portable justice” mechanisms for effective access to justice. Migrant
workers must be able to pursue grievances, access legal representation,
and obtain remedies in countries of origin, transit, destination and even
after they have returned to their origin country for wage theft, workplace
violations as well as any kind of violence and harassment suffered along
their migration journey. As noted by the ILO, wage theft is the number one
indicator of forced labor, and migrant workers are three times more likely
to be in forced labor than other workers.
Demand 4 – Rights-Based Pathways and Regularisation
- Priority
for Regularisation: A sustainable migration system cannot rely on
keeping millions of people in undocumented, hyper-exploitable limbo.
Implementation of the GCM must prioritise broad, accessible regularisation
schemes, family unification, and humanitarian resettlement over the
expansion of restrictive, employer-tied temporary or circular work
programmes that structurally breed abuse. It should also guarantee that
migrants and their families can safely access education and essential
public services without fear of being deported, upholding these as safe,
trusted spaces free from immigration enforcement.
- Humanitarian
Pathways: As the climate emergency accelerates, we demand
expanded regular pathways for climate-displaced persons. These pathways
must guarantee full worker rights, social cohesion, and clear options for
permanent residence and civic participation. And states must re-commit to
humanitarian pathways for those displaced by conflict, war and other forms
of violence, which are increasingly driving migration globally, while
ensuring equality of opportunities and outcomes for migrant women and men,
unequally impacted by crisis, and that these workers and their families
are not excluded from quality public services, labour rights and
protections while sustaining economies in destination countries. Temporary
labour migration schemes are not a viable solution to long-term displacement.
Demand 5 – Just Models for Labour Migration and Fair
Recruitment
- Beyond
Skills Recognition: The 2026 focus on “skills recognition” must
not overshadow worker rights and agency. Pathways must end the
commodification of migrant labour. We reject models that treat migrants
purely as economic inputs; regular pathways must allow for job mobility
and full freedom of association. And the progress declaration must
recognize that ALL work has dignity - regardless of whether in the
informal or formal economy; whether low wage or higher paid - and skill.
- Binding
Fair Recruitment Regulation: While we welcome the 2026 draft’s
stronger language on ending recruitment fees and debt bondage, voluntary
guidelines have proven insufficient. This commitment must be backed by
binding, cross-border regulations on the recruitment industry, strictly
guided by the ILO’s General Principles and Operational Guidelines
on Fair Recruitment and Definition of Recruitment Fees and a zero
tolerance policy on fees charged to workers.
- ILO
Leadership: As the only UN agency with a rights-based,
constitutional mandate to protect workers and establish labour standards,
the ILO must lead on the governance of labour migration within the UN
Network on Migration and any other UN agency addressing issues of labour
migration.
Signatories:
David Edwards
General Secretary, Education International
Christy Hoffman
General Secretary, UNI Global Union
Ambet Yuson
General Secretary, Building and Wood Workers International
Daniel Bertossa
General Secretary, Public Services International
Benoît Machuel
General Secretary, International Arts and Entertainment Alliance
Atle Høie
General Secretary, IndustriALL Global Union
Steve Cotton
General Secretary, International Transport Workers’ Federation
Adriana Paz Ramírez
General Secretary, International Domestic Workers Federation
Kristjan Bragason General Secretary,
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco
and Allied Workers’ Associations
Anthony Bellanger
General Secretary, International Federation of Journalists
1 Represented by the ten Global Union Federations:
Education International (EI), IndustriALL Global Union, UNI Global Union,
International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), Building and Wood Workers
International (BWI), International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), Public
Services International (PSI), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel,
Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF),
International Arts and Entertainment Alliance (IAEA), International Federation
of Journalists (IFJ).
