PSI member unions are preparing for the International Labor Conference (ILC) of the International Labor Organization (ILO), to be held in June in Geneva. This year, the union representatives of the Americas indicated, among the cases to be taken to the Committee on the Application of Standards (CAN), the case of Ecuador for its systematic policy of violating the right to collective bargaining. But the country, although an emblematic case, is not the only one in the Americas region that is threatened with a rollback of the rights of public service workers.

In addition to Argentina and Panama, Canada and the U.S. also face concrete measures that threaten the right to strike and union organizing. To create a space to share strategies to address the systematic denial and violation of fundamental trade union and labor rights in the public sector in the Americas, PSI Inter-America promoted a webinar with trade union representatives from Ecuador and Canada, as well as PSI experts for the U.S., for a horizontal dialogue on strategies in the framework of the preparations for the ILC.

"What we are facing right now are threats to our existence as unions. We are seeing an increase in violations of trade union and labor rights, even of the most basic rights," stressed Euan Gibb, PSI regional secretary for Inter-America, at the opening of the event, which included the participation of union leaders Luis Muñoz, from Ecuador, and Sophie Ferguson, from the Quebec Government Professionals Union (SPGQ), from Canada.

Also participating in the debate were Verónica Montúfar, PSI Equality Officer; Ethan T. Young, PSI North American Sub-regional Secretary; and Marcelo Di Stefano, PSI Inter-America Regional Trade Union Rights Coordinator.

Among the best-known cases of violations of public service labor rights in the Americas region is that of Ecuador, a case that PSI has brought to the international stage since 2008 and which will be discussed for the fifth time at the CAN at this year's ILC. The international federation documented serious and persistent violations of Conventions 87 (freedom of association) and 98 (collective bargaining) committed by various governments. This initiative was supported by affiliated trade union organizations in the country, which have publicly denounced the systematic erosion of collective rights in the public sector.

"The case of Ecuador is an emblematic case because this country has been the laboratory of the attack on the collective rights of public sector workers as a State policy," recalled Verónica Montúfar in her presentation.

According to Report III(A) of 2025 of the ILO Committee of Experts, the Ecuadorian State systematically restricts the exercise of collective rights. The report highlights the prohibition to form unions by branch in the public sector, state interference in union organization and the absence of an effective collective bargaining framework.

These practices have been in place in the country for more than 25 years, were perfected during the government of Rafael Correa, when collective bargaining gains in the public sector were dismantled, and further aggravated during the current mandate of Daniel Noboa.

In addition to that, as Montúfar has highlighted, another fact in what has to do with the rights of public service workers in Ecuador was the 2015 constitutional amendment, which modified that further restricted collective bargaining. "What it wanted to do - and did for a while - since this amendment was later distorted by the Constitutional Court was to freeze all workers who were called public sector workers and say that, from now on, all those who enter the public sector were going to be called public servants, and that public servants, regulated by the Organic Law of the Public Service, therefore, have no right to either unions or collective bargaining, because Ecuador has not ratified Convention 151 and neither Convention 154," commented Montúfar.

Luis Muñoz, of FENAJE and one of the coordinators of PSI's National Affiliates Committee in Ecuador, stated that PSI's work in the country has been very important in its struggle to protect union leaders who have been persecuted in Ecuador in recent years. "In this sense, PSI has to be, therefore, on our side to ensure that Ecuador does not fail in this immense purpose of stopping the onslaught against the collective contract," Muñoz said. "In this model that has been Ecuador, they took away our right to strike and now they want to take away our right to collective bargaining," stressed the union leader.

The case of Canada

In March 2025, unions in Quebec joined forces to denounce Bill 89, which would severely restrict workers' right to strike. The LP was introduced by the Quebec government under the pretext of "protecting vulnerable populations during labor disputes," but unions claim the legislation represents a direct attack on fundamental labor rights while failing to address real issues affecting public services.

"In Quebec, the government recently introduced three anti-union bills. I was telling you that the Common Front strike in recent years had a big impact. This bill [89] seeks to limit the right to strike because it forces unions to define essential services together with the employer before initiating a strike or a lockout. The aim is to ensure that employees who are essential for the safety of the population remain at work. However, this criterion is already covered by the Essential Services Law, but the government is back to give itself even more leeway to decide what does or does not affect the safety of the population and use that as an argument to restrict the right to strike. This despite the fact that since 2000, 95% of collective bargaining in Quebec has been resolved without a strike or lockout," said SPGQ representative Sophie Ferguson.

The case of the United States

In March of this year, the U.S. labor movement came under the biggest attack in history with President Trump's issuance of an executive order that illegally stripped federal workers of their collective bargaining rights under the pretext of "national security." The Office of Personnel Management also issued guidance instructing agencies to rescind union rights and contracts and to end grievance procedures. It also told agencies to continue with Trump's Reduction in Force order, but to ignore the requirements in union contracts that have been terminated.

PSI's sub-regional secretary for North America, Ethan Young, explained that U.S. workers today face a situation similar to what is happening in other countries in the region. "At the federal level in the United States, we are also seeing a similar strategy: a frontal assault on unions that not only represent workers, but also defend the public services that workers across the country depend on. These unions are being attacked primarily because they are politically active: they stand up for workers, they hold a certain political position, and they support a specific political agenda," Young explained.

The sub-regional secretary added that an important strategy of struggle at this time is to maintain closeness with the unions in struggle and with the people. "In terms of our mobilization and all our efforts to protect these rights, an extremely important strategy is communication with our members and with the people," Young said.

During the strategy discussion, Marcelo Di Stefano -coordinator of the book Libertad sindical y negociación colectiva en el sector público. Cases from Latin America and the Caribbean, which present an analysis in ten countries on collective bargaining in the public sector in the Americas, recalled that the attack on freedom of association has to do with the power that unions have in the struggle to guarantee better working conditions for workers. "They attack us because we continue to be the voice of those they want to silence. They attack us because we are the ones who can generate strategic alliances to bring about change," stressed Di Stefano, now newly elected Secretary of Union Strengthening and Organizing of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) for the 2025-2029 term.

In closing the webinar, Gibb emphasized that, "there is no global, regional or national organization coming to fight for us. If we want to defend ourselves and advance collectively, the only way forward is to continue organizing, intervening in all possible spaces, connecting and coordinating our strategies and struggles, and always expanding and organizing solidarity with those most under attack".