June 19, 2013

On the morning of April 2, MSN received the devastating news that our good friend and colleague Stephen Coats, Director of the US-Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP), had died in his sleep of a heart attack the previous night.

Many of us in the international labour rights movement expressed the same feeling – we couldn’t imagine the movement without him.

Stephen was a modest, self-effacing man known for his hard work, tenacity and concrete achievements. Everyone who knew him – from trade union activists to government officials to corporate CSR staff – respected Stephen as an honest player willing to dialogue whenever possible and campaign when necessary, someone who always had the best interests of workers at heart.

Our first working experience with Stephen was way back in 1996 when we mobilized support in Canada for his organization’s groundbreaking campaign that helped Phillips-Van Heusen workers win the first collective bargaining agreement in a Guatemalan maquila factory.

Most recently, we were coordinating on a brand letter to the Government of Peru calling for the repeal of legislation that allows clothing manufacturers to hire workers on repeated short-term employment contracts, thereby denying them their lawful rights and benefits.

Stephen was the thoughtful steady hand of the international labour rights movement.  He was also a special friend of MSN and a kind and generous man, generous with his time, his thoughts, and his advice. We will and do miss him dearly.