The AFL-CIO Executive Council called for a “high-wage” economic strategy, a new trade model and universal voter registration coupled with vigorous protection of the right to vote at its February meeting in Orlando, Fla., today. The Executive Council also addressed gender equality and commemorated the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington .

In its statement on economic strategy, the council says, “There is something fundamentally wrong with the U.S. economy,” that has resulted in “the stagnation of wages and incomes that has crippled the American middle class for more than a generation.”

To fix what is wrong with the U.S. economy, we must urgently put in place three pillars of a high-wage strategy for shared prosperity: (1) restoring workers’ ability to bargain collectively; (2) restoring the historical value of the minimum wage; and (3) raising labor standards for all workers through comprehensive immigration reform. These goals cannot be achieved unless workers organize, particularly in growth sectors of the economy.

Read the full statement, Time for a High-Wage Economic Strategy, here.

The Obama administration is currently negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TTP) that, says the council, has the “potential to set a new standard for trade policy in the 21st century” and break away from the flawed NAFTA trade model that encourages employers to pit one group of workers against another—both within and between countries and has dramatically increased the nation’s trade deficit.

But in its statement, the council warns, “what has been made public about the negotiations to date is grounds for deep concern that it will not fulfill its promise.”

Promoting economic growth with equity in the United States and worldwide requires an approach that couples expansion and enforcement of labor rights globally with necessary reforms in trade and economic policy. These reforms must break from current policies to address income inequality through demand-led growth, as part of a Global New Deal that raises incomes and standards of living for all.

Read the full Trans-Pacific Partnership: Working Families Need a New Trade Model statement here.

More than 50 million eligible American voters—with people of color over-represented in that number—are not registered to vote, thanks mainly to restrictive voter registration laws that, says the Executive Council, “place the burden on individual voters to register and stay registered when they move or their information changes."

As a result, millions of eligible Americans are not registered, and millions more registered voters regularly fall off the rolls, often without their knowledge. It is incumbent on government to expand voting opportunities in America and to support universal voter registration, not to erect new hurdles, like strict voter ID laws and other barriers to voting.

The Executive Council also urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

Read the full statement, Building Our Democracy—a Universal Voter Registration, here.

In reiterating the union movement’s deep commitment to gender equality, the Executive Council said that while much progress has been made, “Discrimination against women remains a pervasive and persistent form of inequality.”

We are working to realize a broad vision of progress for women and their families that will break down barriers that perpetuate unfair treatment, discrimination and inequality based on gender, including:pay equity;an end to violence against women; eliminating gender discrimination; contraceptive equity; and access to training, education and leadership opportunities.

Read the full Commitment to Gender Equality here.

Also, this Aug. 28 marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The Executive Council pledged the union movement’s strong support of a 50th anniversary March on Washington.

Fifty years ago the planners of the March on Washington reminded our nation that millions of our citizens, black and white, were unemployed.…Today, 50 years since the March on Washington, millions of working families of all hues, genders and immigrant status are struggling to find decent jobs with decent wages that can support and sustain themselves and their families. They want an economic model of shared prosperity for all. We pledge to use the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington to recommit ourselves to extending and deepening freedom, equality and democracy for all in this country, and building a strong social and economic justice movement.

Read the full Support for the Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the March on Washington here.

The International Domestic Workers’ Network (IDWN) received the  2013 George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. 

In 2011, with the support of the IDWN, domestic workers achieved passage of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C. 189). This was an historic accomplishment as it was the first time that domestic work was recognized as work, deserving of full labor protections. The passage of this international standard culminated years of grassroots struggle by some of the most marginalized workers in the world, representing a huge victory for the rights of women workers, migrant workers and workers in the informal economy. Tens of millions of domestic workers now have a set of international standards aimed at improving their working conditions. In negotiating the convention, the AFL-CIO and the IDWN U.S. affiliate, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), led the way in setting an example for other labor collaborations globally, when the AFL-CIO appointed a domestic worker from NDWA as the lead delegate for the ILO convention negotiations. The IDWN currently leads the effort to promote ratification of the convention.

The council also adopted a statement on plans to strengthen state and local labor movements. 

See all the adopted statements from the February 2013 meeting here.