WBO Organizes Brazilian Labor Delegation Visit to Washington
WBO Press release April 12 2023
Group held meetings with U.S. organizations linked to the worlds of labor, academia, journalism, and U.S. government officials
The initiative supported the exchange of information in the defense of labor and human rights in Brazil
On April 10, 11, and 12, the Washington Brazil Office (WBO) organized the visit to Washington of a delegation made up of 3 scholars and activists from the Brazilian trade union movement. The group met with organizations, local unions, US government agencies, academics, journalists and others international organizations headquartered in the U.S. capital.
The delegation included Professor Marcio Pochmann of the State University of Campinas; University of Buenos Aires Professor Cecilia Senen Gonzalez; and National University of Colombia Professor Laura Carla Moisa Elicabide. The latter three are specialists in labor economics.
The group was accompanied by Iman Musa, the WBO’s director of advocacy; Jana Silverman, a WBO research fellow who holds a doctorate in labor economics from the State University of Campinas; a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Global Workers' Rights at Penn State University; and Stanley Gacek, a union attorney and former deputy director in charge of the International Labor Organization mission in Brazil from 2011 to 2016.
On Monday, April 10, the entourage gave an interview to the press, participated in a seminar at the headquarters of the Washington Office for Latin America, and held a meeting with representatives of the Democratic Socialists of America. On Tuesday, April 11, the group met with Maria Claudia Pulido, the executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and participated in a seminar at the headquarters of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). On Wednesday, April 12, the delegation held meetings with representatives of International Affairs at the US Department of Labor, and then traveled to the State College of Pennsylvania to attend a conference.
“The WBO's role on this visit has been to assist in establishing and strengthening political connections between activists and academics on issues related to work and trade unionism. We organized connections with U.S. civil society organizations and other political actors, such as the US Department of Labor and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” said Silverman. “The entourage visited Washington to exchange experiences and information on the challenges for the reconstruction of human and labor rights in countries like Brazil.”
The WBO is an independent, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting cooperation and knowledge about the Brazilian reality and to offering support for the international work of Brazilian civil society, social movements, and other sectors in Washington, D.C. in defense of democracy, human rights, and the environment.
