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9 April, 2026Global Union Federations (GUFs), including IndustriALL Global Union, have issued a joint statement calling on governments to strengthen protections for migrant workers ahead of the 2026 International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) Progress Declaration, which takes place 5–8 May 2026 in New York.
The statement warns that the current UN draft text is a dangerous step backwards, moving away from a rights-based approach and diluting references to core International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining.
A regression in rights for migrant workers
The joint statement raises the alarm over the 2026 Zero Draft of the Progress Declaration, which the GUFs say shifts migration governance toward a technocratic “labour market” model, one that risks treating migrant workers as economic inputs rather than rights-holders.
While welcoming stronger language on recruitment fees and debt bondage, GUFs are calling for six urgent changes:
- guaranteeing the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining for all migrant workers
- restoring international labour standards as the foundation of migration policy
- strengthening labour inspection and enforcement
- ensuring social protection portability
- prioritizing regularization over temporary and employer-tied schemes
- guaranteeing binding fair recruitment regulations
The statement also underlines that migrant workers must have access to justice — including the ability to pursue grievances for wage theft, workplace violations and harassment even after returning to their country of origin. According to the statement, wage theft is the number one indicator of forced labour and migrant workers are three times more likely to be in forced labour than other workers.
The reality on the ground
The demands reflect a pattern that IndustriALL knows well. In Malaysia, IndustriALL recently filed a formal complaint with the ILO after documenting systematic union busting across 12 companies in the electronics, semiconductor, aerospace, automotive and paper sectors. Migrant workers were among the most targeted, threatened with deportation and non-renewal of work permits to prevent them from voting for a union. At Lumileds, migrant workers were deported after the union won its ballot.
Women migrant workers face compounding barriers. At the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), IndustriALL and fellow GUFs highlighted that across global supply chains, women are overrepresented in the most precarious jobs, often with no union coverage and no access to grievance mechanisms.
IndustriALL’s commitment
The statement reflects IndustriALL’s own Action Plan (2025–2029), which explicitly commits to defending migrants and refugees as part of its broader fight for equality and workers’ rights. The Action Plan recognizes that migrant workers are particularly stigmatized and exposed to severe rights violations and injustice, and commits IndustriALL to enhancing policies of inclusion with the active involvement of migrants and refugees in union activities.
“Migrant workers sustain economies and essential sectors across the world, yet they remain structurally excluded from the protections that every worker deserves. The 2026 Progress Declaration must not go backwards. It must guarantee that every worker, regardless of their passport or visa status, has the right to organize, bargain collectively and live and work in dignity,”
said Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary