II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2104 

To support global labor rights, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 17, 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To support global labor rights, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Global Labor Support Act of 2021’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

TITLE I—GLOBAL LABOR RIGHTS 

Sec. 101. Statement of policy. 

Sec. 102. Funding for global labor rights. 

Sec. 103. Global labor program. 

Sec. 104. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Labor Rights. 


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Sec. 105. Imposition of sanctions with respect to gross violations of the human 

rights of workers. 

Sec. 106. Annual report on internationally recognized labor rights. 

Sec. 107. Comptroller General report on United States Government work on 

labor rights. 

TITLE II—LABOR RIGHTS IN BANGLADESH 

Sec. 201. Findings. 

Sec. 202. Statement of policy. 

Sec. 203. Updated labor rights and worker safety commitments for Bangladesh. 

Sec. 204. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 205. Embassy Dhaka labor attache. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The International Labour Organization 

4 (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and 

5 Rights at Work, which ILO Member States adopted 

6 in 1998, recognizes four fundamental rights at work: 

7 (A) Freedom of association and the effec8 tive recognition of the right to collective bar9 gaining. 

10 (B) The elimination of all forms of forced 

11 or compulsory labour. 

12 (C) The effective abolition of child labour. 

13 (D) The elimination of discrimination in 

14 respect of employment and occupation, which 

15 may be referred to as non-discrimination. 

16 (2) The ILO Declaration on Social Justice for 

17 a Fair Globalization, which ILO Member States 

18 adopted in 2008, recognizes four strategic objectives 


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1 through which the Decent Work Agenda is ex2 pressed: 

3 (A) Promoting employment by creating a 

4 sustainable institutional and economic environ5 ment for the sustainable development of individ6 uals, enterprises, and societies. 

7 (B) Developing and enhancing measures of 

8 social protection, including social security, 

9 healthy and safe working conditions, and poli10 cies in regard to wages, hours, and other condi11 tions of work. 

12 (C) Promoting social dialogue for trans13 lating economic development into social 

14 progress and making labour law and institu15 tions effective. 

16 (D) Respecting, promoting, and realizing 

17 the fundamental principles and rights at work, 

18 noting that freedom of association and effective 

19 recognition of the right to collective bargaining 

20 are particularly important. 

21 (3) On June 21, 2019, the International 

22 Labour Conference of the ILO adopted the Violence 

23 and Harassment Convention (No. 190) and Rec24 ommendation (No. 206), which recognize the right 

25 of everyone to a world of work free from violence 


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1 and harassment, including gender-based violence and 

2 harassment. 

3 (4) On June 21, 2019, the United States voted 

4 in favor of the adoption of ILO Convention 190, but 

5 has not ratified it. 

6 (5) The Department of State documents worker 

7 rights in its annual Country Reports on Human 

8 Rights Practices in the following five categories: 

9 (A) Freedom of association and the right 

10 to collective bargaining. 

11 (B) Prohibition of forced or compulsory 

12 labor. 

13 (C) Prohibition of worst forms of child 

14 labor and minimum age for employment. 

15 (D) Prohibition of discrimination with re16 spect to employment and occupation. 

17 (E) Acceptable conditions of work. 

18 (6) In 1999, the Department of State created 

19 the position of Special Representative for Inter20 national Labor Affairs. 

21 (7) Section 515 of volume 1 of the Foreign Af22 fairs Manual defines the duties of the Special Rep23 resentative for International Labor Affairs as fol24 lows: ‘‘The Special Representative for International 

25 Labor Affairs serves as the senior policy advisor to 


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1 the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human 

2 Rights, and Labor on all matters related to inter3 national labor affairs and rights; and reports directly 

4 to the Assistant Secretary. The Special Representa5 tive alerts the Assistant Secretary to opportunities 

6 for advancing existing policy, helps formulate new 

7 policy approaches, and serves as a key front office 

8 contributor to strategic thinking for the bureau in 

9 relation to international labor affairs.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT13 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com14 mittees’’ means— 

15 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

16 and the Committee on Health, Education, 

17 Labor and Pensions of the Senate; and 

18 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

19 the Committee on Education and Labor of the 

20 House of Representatives. 

21 (2) INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED LABOR

22 RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘internationally recognized 

23 labor rights’’ means— 


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1 (A) the freedom of association and the ef2 fective recognition of the right to collective bar3 gaining; 

4 (B) the elimination of all forms of forced 

5 or compulsory labor; 

6 (C) the effective prohibition and abolition 

7 of all forms of child labor; 

8 (D) the elimination of discrimination in re9 spect of employment and occupation; and 

10 (E) acceptable conditions of work with re11 spect to minimum wages, hours of work, and 

12 occupational safety and health. 

13 (3) VULNERABLE POPULATIONS.—The term 

14 ‘‘vulnerable populations’’ means— 

15 (A) workers who identify as women or 

16 girls; 

17 (B) workers with disabilities; 

18 (C) child workers above the minimum age 

19 of employment as defined by the ILO Minimum 

20 Age Convention; 

21 (D) workers who identify as lesbian, gay, 

22 bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex; 

23 (E) workers from marginalized commu24 nities; 

25 (F) migrant workers; 


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1 (G) domestic workers; 

2 (H) workers in the informal economy; 

3 (I) workers in non-standard forms of em4 ployment as described by the ILO, including 

5 short-term contract employment and home6 based employment, among others; and 

7 (J) workers who otherwise lack access to 

8 social protection. 

9 TITLE I—GLOBAL LABOR 

10 RIGHTS 

11 SEC. 101. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

12 It is the policy of the United States to— 

13 (1) support and advance internationally recog14 nized labor rights around the world; 

15 (2) recognize that barriers to workers, particu16 larly workers who identify as women or girls, access17 ing their full internationally recognized labor rights 

18 include— 

19 (A) workplace harassment and violence, 

20 particularly gender-based harassment and vio21 lence; 

22 (B) lack of pay equity; 

23 (C) lack of access to family, medical, and 

24 sick leave; 

25 (D) lack of access to affordable child care; 


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1 (E) lack of access to safe and adequate 

2 water and sanitation facilities and hygienic con3 ditions; and 

4 (F) restrictive social and gender norms; 

5 (3) engage governments directly and through 

6 multilateral organizations, such as the International 

7 Labour Organization and the Organization for Eco8 nomic Cooperation and Development, to advance 

9 internationally recognized labor rights, prevent and 

10 respond to gender-based harassment and violence in 

11 the world of work, and promote safe working condi12 tions; 

13 (4) oppose the use of force or coercion to pre14 vent workers from exercising their internationally 

15 recognized labor rights, including by employers and 

16 government entities, such as the use of police or 

17 military force; 

18 (5) engage with labor unions, workers’ organi19 zations, nongovernmental organizations, academia, 

20 and the private sector, including industry associa21 tions and multistakeholder initiatives, to strengthen 

22 respect for, and promote protection of, internation23 ally recognized labor rights around the world; and 

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1 nationally recognized labor rights in global supply 

2 chains. 

3 SEC. 102. FUNDING FOR GLOBAL LABOR RIGHTS. 

4 (a) GLOBAL LABOR RIGHTS FUND.— 

5 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

6 the Treasury of the United States a fund for entities 

7 whose main purpose is to protect and promote labor 

8 rights, to be known as the Global Labor Rights 

9 Fund (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Fund’’), 

10 consisting of such amounts as are appropriated pur11 suant to the authorization of appropriations under 

12 paragraph (2) or otherwise appropriated or other13 wise made available to the Fund. 

14 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Fund 

16 $30,000,000, of which $25,000,000 shall be divided 

17 between the Department of State and the United 

18 States Agency for International Development and 

19 $5,000,000 shall be for the International Labor Af20 fairs Bureau at the Department of Labor for each 

21 of fiscal years 2022 through 2028. 

22 (3) RECIPIENTS OF FUNDS.—Funds from the 

23 Global Labor Rights Fund shall be available to enti24 ties whose main purpose is to protect and promote 

25 labor rights, such as labor unions and nongovernVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:30 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2104.IS S2104

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1 mental organizations with a demonstrated record of 

2 labor rights advocacy or effective implementation of 

3 labor rights programs, and may be made available to 

4 foreign government entities only for the purposes of 

5 providing technical assistance for reforming labor 

6 laws, intensifying labor law enforcement, imple7 menting transparent reporting on labor inspections, 

8 improving monitoring mechanisms to comply with 

9 internationally recognized labor rights, and strength10 ening the ability of dispute resolution mechanisms 

11 and the judicial system to address labor issues in an 

12 impartial and independent manner. 

13 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Fund 

14 shall be used to effectively implement the following 

15 goals: 

16 (A) To build the capacity of labor rights 

17 organizations in foreign countries, including 

18 labor unions, to protect internationally recog19 nized labor rights, including building their ca20 pacity to organize workers into labor unions 

21 and to negotiate strong collective bargaining 

22 agreements. 

23 (B) To build the capacity of government 

24 entities to protect internationally recognized 


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1 labor rights only under the conditions described 

2 in paragraph (3). 

3 (C) To develop social protection systems 

4 that help workers overcome barriers to access5 ing their full internationally recognized labor 

6 rights, such as promoting access to paid family, 

7 medical, and sick leave. 

8 (D) To safeguard and promote the rights 

9 of workers facing discrimination, harassment, 

10 and violence, particularly workers who identify 

11 as women or girls and workers from other vul12 nerable populations, including— 

13 (i) supporting equal pay for equal 

14 work; 

15 (ii) supporting workers’ access to jus16 tice, including through access to quality 

17 legal assistance; 

18 (iii) providing protection from retalia19 tion; and 

20 (iv) providing legal, psychosocial, and 

21 other support and services during inves22 tigations of abuse or exploitation. 

23 (E) To support the development of worker24 driven labor monitoring and gender-sensitive 

25 complaint and dispute resolution mechanisms. 


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1 (F) To increase the general population’s 

2 awareness of internationally recognized labor 

3 rights. 

4 (G) To otherwise promote and protect 

5 internationally recognized labor rights. 

6 (5) IMPLEMENTATION.—In general, the Sec7 retary of State, in coordination with the Adminis8 trator of the United States Agency for International 

9 Development and the Secretary of Labor, shall co10 ordinate and carry out activities to achieve the goals 

11 described in paragraph (4). 

12 (6) BRIEFING ON IMPLEMENTATION.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, 

14 in coordination with the Administrator of the 

15 United States Agency for International Devel16 opment and the Secretary of Labor, shall pro17 vide to the appropriate congressional commit18 tees an annual briefing on the programs and 

19 activities carried out to achieve the goals de20 scribed in paragraph (4) during the preceding 

21 fiscal year and through fiscal year 2028, includ22 ing all programs and activities funded with 

23 amounts in the Fund. 


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1 (B) ELEMENTS.—Each briefing shall in2 clude, with respect to each program or activity 

3 described in subparagraph (A)— 

4 (i) a thorough description of the pro5 gram or activity; 

6 (ii) the amount of funding for the pro7 gram or activity; 

8 (iii) the identity of each recipient of 

9 funding for the program or activity, includ10 ing any subgrantees; 

11 (iv) the number of participants in the 

12 program or activity, disaggregated by in13 dustry or sector, age, gender identity, eth14 nic or racial identity, disability, educational 

15 attainment level, migratory status, and oc16 cupation to the extent that participants are 

17 willing and able to safely provide such in18 formation; 

19 (v) a description of the goal or goals 

20 described in paragraph (4) to which the 

21 program or activity relates and the indica22 tors established to monitor progress toward 

23 meeting the goal or goals; 


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1 (vi) an assessment of whether or not 

2 the program or activity met the goal or 

3 goals; and 

4 (vii) future plans for the program or 

5 activity, including how the progress 

6 achieved through the program or activity 

7 will be sustained, and resources needed for 

8 those future plans, including appropria9 tions. 

10 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR ADDI11 TIONAL LABOR RIGHTS PROGRAMMING.— 

12 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In 

13 addition to the amounts authorized to be appro14 priated pursuant to subsection (a)(2), there is au15 thorized to be appropriated $30,000,000, of which 

16 $25,000,000 shall be divided between the Depart17 ment of State and the United States Agency for 

18 International Development and $5,000,000 shall be 

19 for the International Labor Affairs Bureau at the 

20 Department of Labor for each of fiscal years 2022 

21 through 2028 for additional labor rights program22 ming. 

23 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts appropriated by 

24 this section may be used to effectively implement the 

25 following goals: 


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1 (A) To build the capacity of labor rights 

2 organizations in foreign countries, including 

3 labor unions, to protect internationally recog4 nized labor rights, including building their ca5 pacity to organize workers into labor unions 

6 and to negotiate strong collective bargaining 

7 agreements. 

8 (B) To build the capacity of other non9 governmental organizations in foreign countries 

10 to protect internationally recognized labor 

11 rights. 

12 (C) To improve the capability of foreign 

13 government entities, including legislatures, the 

14 judiciary, government agencies, and law en15 forcement bodies, especially labor law enforce16 ment bodies, to protect internationally recog17 nized labor rights. 

18 (D) To develop social protection systems 

19 that help workers overcome barriers to access20 ing their full internationally recognized labor 

21 rights, such as promoting access to paid family, 

22 medical, and sick leave. 

23 (E) To safeguard and promote rights of 

24 workers facing discrimination, harassment, and 

25 violence, particularly workers who identify as 


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1 women or girls and workers from other vulner2 able populations, including— 

3 (i) supporting equal pay for equal 

4 work; 

5 (ii) supporting workers’ access to jus6 tice, including through access to quality 

7 legal assistance; 

8 (iii) providing protection from retalia9 tion; and 

10 (iv) providing legal, psychosocial, and 

11 other support and services during inves12 tigations of abuse or exploitation. 

13 (F) To support the development of worker14 driven labor monitoring and gender-sensitive 

15 complaint and dispute resolution mechanisms. 

16 (G) To increase the general population’s 

17 awareness of internationally recognized labor 

18 rights. 

19 (H) To otherwise promote and protect 

20 internationally recognized labor rights. 

21 (3) IMPLEMENTATION.—In general, the Sec22 retary of State, in coordination with the Adminis23 trator of the United States Agency for International 

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1 ordinate and carry out activities to achieve the goals 

2 described in paragraph (2). 

3 SEC. 103. GLOBAL LABOR PROGRAM. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Following the completion of the 

5 initial extended six-year Global Labor Program from 2016 

6 to 2022, the Administrator of the United States Agency 

7 for International Development shall extend the Global 

8 Labor Program an additional five years, from 2023 to 

9 2028. 

10 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Global Labor Program 

11 extension shall maintain the single-implementer model 

12 used in the first program, though the Administrator may 

13 re-compete the award for that single implementer. The 

14 Administrator shall consult with the Assistant Secretary 

15 of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the 

16 Department of State and the Deputy Under Secretary for 

17 International Affairs at the Department of Labor prior 

18 to making any changes to the scope, nature, or structure 

19 of the Global Labor Program. Any such changes shall be 

20 subject to the regular notification procedures of the appro21 priate congressional committees. 

22 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts appropriated 

23 pursuant to subsections (a)(2) and (b)(1) of section 102, 

24 not less than $13,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 


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1 through 2028 shall be made available for the Global Labor 

2 Program. 

3 SEC. 104. AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL LABOR 

4 RIGHTS. 

5 (a) AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE.—There is established 

6 the position of United States Ambassador-at-Large for 

7 Global Labor Rights (referred to in this section as the 

8 ‘‘Ambassador-at-Large’’). The Ambassador-at-Large shall 

9 replace the Special Representative for International Labor 

10 Affairs position described in section 515 of volume 1 of 

11 the Foreign Affairs Manual. 

12 (b) APPOINTMENT.—The Ambassador-at-Large shall 

13 be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 

14 consent of the Senate. 

15 (c) CENTRAL OBJECTIVE.—The central objective of 

16 the Ambassador-at-Large is to lead and coordinate the 

17 United States Government’s diplomatic engagement with 

18 foreign governments on the promotion and protection of 

19 internationally recognized labor rights, including the poli20 cies described in section 101, in coordination with other 

21 agencies and offices of the United States Government, in22 cluding— 

23 (1) other bureaus and offices of the Depart24 ment of State, particularly the Bureau of Economic 

25 and Business Affairs; 


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1 (2) the United States Agency for International 

2 Development; 

3 (3) the Department of Labor, particularly the 

4 Bureau of International Labor Affairs; 

5 (4) the United States Trade Representative; 

6 and 

7 (5) U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

8 (d) DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Ambas9 sador-at-Large shall— 

10 (1) engage with foreign government officials, 

11 both in bilateral and multilateral contexts, to en12 courage them to promote and protect internationally 

13 recognized labor rights; 

14 (2) engage with multilateral organizations to 

15 promote and protect internationally recognized labor 

16 rights; 

17 (3) engage with nongovernmental organizations 

18 to support their efforts to promote and protect inter19 nationally recognized labor rights; 

20 (4) participate in the formulation of United 

21 States policy regarding internationally recognized 

22 labor rights, including through leading and coordi23 nating relevant meetings at the National Security 

24 Council and National Economic Council as appro25 priate; 


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1 (5) support United States ambassadors and 

2 United States embassy personnel, including those 

3 specifically covering labor issues, in their efforts to 

4 promote and protect internationally recognized labor 

5 rights; and 

6 (6) consult on the development of United States 

7 Government programs and activities to promote and 

8 protect internationally recognized labor rights, in9 cluding the programs and activities described in sec10 tions 102 and 103. 

11 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

13 necessary for the hiring of three full-time employees to 

14 support the Ambassador-at-Large, for the conduct of in15 vestigations by the Ambassador-at-Large, and for nec16 essary travel to carry out the provisions of this section. 

17 (f) REPORT ON ACTIVITIES.—Not later than 180 

18 days after the appointment of the Ambassador-at-Large, 

19 and annually thereafter, the Ambassador-at-Large shall 

20 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re21 port that details the activities that were undertaken in the 

22 preceding year under subsection (d). 


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1 SEC. 105. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 

2 GROSS VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS 

3 OF WORKERS. 

4 (a) GLOBAL MAGNITSKY SANCTIONS.—The Presi5 dent shall use the authority provided under the Global 

6 Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F 

7 of title XII of Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) 

8 to impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons, in9 cluding foreign government officials and business owners, 

10 directors, officers, or managing agents, and associates of 

11 such persons, that the President determines are respon12 sible for gross violations of the human rights of workers. 

13 (b) 7031(c) SANCTIONS.—The Secretary of State 

14 shall use the authority provided under section 7031(c) of 

15 the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related 

16 Programs Appropriations Act, 2019 (division F of Public 

17 Law 116–6; 8 U.S.C. 1182 note) and other existing au18 thorities to implement visa bans with respect to foreign 

19 government officials and their immediate family members 

20 that the Secretary of State determines are responsible for 

21 gross violations of the human rights of workers. 

22 SEC. 106. ANNUAL REPORT ON INTERNATIONALLY RECOG23 NIZED LABOR RIGHTS. 

24 (a) REPORT.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in 

26 coordination with the Secretary of Labor and the 


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1 Administrator of the United States Agency for 

2 International Development, shall submit to the ap3 propriate congressional committees an annual public 

4 report on the country-by-country status of inter5 nationally recognized labor rights in addition to the 

6 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. 

7 (2) COUNTRIES COVERED.—The report required 

8 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

9 (A) all countries that receive United States 

10 foreign assistance; and 

11 (B) all countries in which the Secretary as12 sesses that there are challenges to the imple13 mentation of internationally recognized labor 

14 rights. 

15 (3) ELEMENTS.—The report required by this 

16 section shall include the following elements: 

17 (A) A description of the extent to which 

18 the labor laws of the country, broken down by 

19 their analogous characterization to the laws of 

20 the United States Government as administra21 tive, civil, common, and criminal laws, protect 

22 all internationally recognized labor rights and of 

23 whether they apply to all workers or whether 

24 certain categories of workers are excluded from 

25 some protections. 


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1 (B) A description of efforts by the govern2 ment of the country to bring laws up to inter3 national standards to protect internationally 

4 recognized labor rights. 

5 (C) A description of the nature and extent 

6 of violations of internationally recognized labor 

7 rights in each country covered. 

8 (D) A description of the roles vulnerable 

9 populations hold in the world of work, the share 

10 of the workforce they comprise, and the unequal 

11 treatment they face. 

12 (E) For each country in which violations of 

13 internationally recognized labor rights are iden14 tified, an assessment of the efforts by the gov15 ernment of that country to prevent and respond 

16 to such violations, including the following ele17 ments: 

18 (i) Whether government officials in 

19 that country participate in, facilitate, or 

20 condone such violations. 

21 (ii) What steps the government of 

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1 cilitating, benefitting from, or condoning 

2 such violations. 

3 (iii) What steps the government of 

4 that country has taken to assist victims of 

5 such violations, including efforts to protect 

6 them from further victimization, provision 

7 of services including physical and mental 

8 health care, provision of legal support and 

9 access to justice through civil proceedings 

10 as well as criminal, and grants of relief 

11 from deportation as appropriate. 

12 (iv) Which government authorities in 

13 that country are involved with preventing 

14 and identifying such violations and the ca15 pacity of those authorities, including num16 bers of personnel dedicated to activities 

17 such as labor inspections. 

18 (v) The effectiveness of the country’s 

19 administrative state, other civil authorities, 

20 law enforcement authorities, and judicial 

21 system in enforcing appropriate regulations 

22 and laws in response to such violations, in23 cluding how many personnel are dedicated 

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1 vestigated and prosecuted, the durations 

2 and outcomes of such cases, and the trans3 parency of outcomes. 

4 (F) An assessment of the extent to which 

5 labor unions, labor rights organizations, and 

6 other civil society actors that work on labor 

7 rights issues, and media that report on labor 

8 rights issues, have the space to operate and of 

9 the extent to which the government engages in 

10 dialogue with them. 

11 (4) CONSULTATIONS.—In preparing the report, 

12 United States diplomatic mission personnel shall 

13 consult with labor unions, labor rights organizations, 

14 human rights organizations, including women’s 

15 rights groups, and other appropriate nongovern16 mental organizations. 

17 (b) EMBASSY LABOR ATTACHE ́.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor, in 

19 coordination with the Secretary of State, shall create 

20 a senior attache ́ position to lead interagency coordi21 nation of the labor portfolio of the United States 

22 mission in each country consistently identified in the 

23 report required under subsection (a)(1) as having a 

24 poor performance record in the area of labor rights. 


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1 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

3 as may be necessary to create the attache ́ positions 

4 for each country. 

5 SEC. 107. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON UNITED 

6 STATES GOVERNMENT WORK ON LABOR 

7 RIGHTS. 

8 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Comptroller General of the 

9 United States shall submit to the appropriate congres10 sional committees an assessment of the work of the United 

11 States Government on labor rights around the world. 

12 (b) ELEMENTS.—The assessment required under 

13 subsection (a) shall include a description of what is known 

14 about the following: 

15 (1) The extent to which each of the internation16 ally recognized labor rights has been included in 

17 United States Government foreign policy and pro18 gramming. 

19 (2) Any labor rights not included within the 

20 definition of internationally recognized labor rights 

21 that have been included in United States Govern22 ment foreign policy and programming. 

23 (3) What resources, including funding and per24 sonnel, the United States Government has dedicated 

25 to the promotion and protection of internationally 


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1 recognized labor rights, and the extent to which 

2 those resources have been dedicated to vulnerable 

3 populations around the world. 

4 (4) A description of the types of programming 

5 the United States Government has implemented to 

6 promote and protect internationally recognized labor 

7 rights in the past 6 years around the world. 

8 (5) The extent to which the United States Gov9 ernment programs described in paragraph (4) 

10 achieved their intended goals. 

11 (6) Specific internationally recognized labor 

12 rights or countries for which the resources dedicated 

13 to date have been insufficient to meet the goals of 

14 the United States. 

15 (7) The mechanisms for interagency coordina16 tion on internationally recognized labor rights, the 

17 efficacy of said mechanisms, and recommendations 

18 for improvements. 

19 TITLE II—LABOR RIGHTS IN 

20 BANGLADESH 

21 SEC. 201. FINDINGS. 

22 Congress makes the following findings: 

23 (1) In June 2013, two months after the April 

24 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory disaster that 

25 claimed the lives of over one thousand ready-made 


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1 garment (RMG) factory workers, the United States 

2 suspended the participation of Bangladesh in the 

3 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program 

4 due to the failure of the Government of Bangladesh 

5 to recognize the labor rights of RMG workers. 

6 (2) In the March 2020 report ‘‘Seven Years 

7 After Rana Plaza, Significant Challenges Remain’’ 

8 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Report’’), the mi9 nority staff of the Committee on Foreign Relations 

10 of the Senate (in this section referred to as the 

11 ‘‘Committee’’) found that, 7 years after the Rana 

12 Plaza garment factory disaster, improvements have 

13 been made to the structural safety of many factories 

14 in Bangladesh, but labor rights have declined pre15 cipitously. 

16 (3) The Report highlighted the increasing abuse 

17 of workers, particularly union leaders and orga18 nizers, in ready-made garment factories in Ban19 gladesh and the lack of accountability for the per20 petrators. 

21 (4) The Report emphasized that workers who 

22 identify as women or girls face disproportionate lev23 els of abuse, and this gender-based violence and har24 assment is a violation of the ILO Violence and Har25 assment Convention, 2019 ILO (No. 190). 


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1 (5) The Report detailed the deteriorating envi2 ronment for union organizers and activists in Ban3 gladesh, including violence and repression during 

4 worker protests over the minimum wage in Decem5 ber 2018 and January 2019 as well as lack of en6 forcement of Bangladesh law on unfair labor prac7 tices. 

8 (6) In the Report, the Committee found that 

9 the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Democracy, 

10 Human Rights, and Labor of the Department of 

11 State, and the United States Agency for Inter12 national Development expended only $23,200,000 on 

13 labor rights programs in Bangladesh between 2011 

14 and the release of the Report. 

15 SEC. 202. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

16 It is the policy of the United States to— 

17 (1) protect and promote internationally recog18 nized labor rights in Bangladesh; 

19 (2) support, in its capacity as a member of the 

20 ILO’s Governing Body of the International Labour 

21 Office, the proposal to establish an ILO Commission 

22 of Inquiry on Bangladesh in response to violations of 

23 the ILO Convention on the Freedom of Association 

24 and Protection of the Right to Organise, the ILO 

25 Convention on the Right to Organise and Collective 


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1 Bargaining, and the ILO Labor Inspection Conven2 tion; and 

3 (3) urge other members of the ILO governing 

4 body to support the establishment of an ILO Com5 mission of Inquiry on Bangladesh. 

6 SEC. 203. UPDATED LABOR RIGHTS AND WORKER SAFETY 

7 COMMITMENTS FOR BANGLADESH. 

8 The President shall work with the Government of 

9 Bangladesh to update the previous commitments by the 

10 Government of Bangladesh regarding labor rights and 

11 worker safety to reflect the new and ongoing challenges 

12 to internationally recognized labor rights in Bangladesh. 

13 SEC. 204. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 Of the amount authorized to be appropriated under 

15 section 102(a), not less than $3,000,000 is authorized to 

16 be appropriated for programming that supports labor 

17 unions in order to promote labor rights in Bangladesh for 

18 each of fiscal years 2022 through 2028. 

SEC. 205. EMBASSY DHAKA LABOR ATTACHE ́ 19 . 

20 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor, in coordination 

22 with the Secretary of State, shall deploy a senior attache ́

23 or envoy to lead interagency coordination of the labor port24 folio at the United States Embassy in Dhaka. 

Æ 


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