(United Nations) Joe Biden, faced with a major strike in the automobile sector, and Brazilian President Lula, a former trade unionist, launched a “partnership on workers’ rights” on Wednesday, the American president announced.
“The two largest democracies in North and South America are mobilizing for human rights. This includes workers’ rights and I am proud of the partnership for workers’ rights that we will launch,” Joe Biden said during an interview with his Brazilian counterpart.
He reiterated that he believed work was about “dignity, self-esteem.”
“I worked at the factory for 27 years. I saw unemployment. I experienced unemployment,” said Lula, at the start of this interview in a New York hotel, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“I believe that the relationship between the United States and Brazil will improve further and that we can behave as friends with common goals: development and a better life for everyone,” he added.
Like the climate, labor law is “another area in which there is a certain affinity […] between our two presidents,” said a senior US executive official, who requested anonymity, in a statement. exchange with the press.
“We are seizing this opportunity of having two presidents who are exceptionally well aligned in their conception of an economy serving workers,” added another senior American official.
This non-binding partnership should make it possible to address certain “key issues”, such as forced labor and child labor, investor responsibility and discrimination at work, according to her.
The senior official indicated that this initiative was intended to be extended to other countries.
The relationship between the United States and Brazil has warmed significantly since the return to power of Lula, who succeeded far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
The announcement of the partnership on workers’ rights also has a domestic political dimension for the American president, candidate for a second term.
Joe Biden, who presents himself as a fervent supporter of unions, is facing an unprecedented strike hitting the three major American auto manufacturers. He called for a “fair share” of these groups’ “record profits.”
On Wednesday in New York, according to the White House, he chose to wear a red tie as a sign of solidarity with the strikers.