Solidarity Center

  When women agricultural workers in Morocco joined to form their first union and negotiate a contract that established gender equality and prohibited sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence on the job, their collective action followed years of Solidarity Center training and support. This GivingTuesday offers a chance to support violence-free workplaces—and all […]

Union women who work at factories, on farms, in restaurants, taxis and offices successfully campaigned for an international treaty to end gender-based violence at work. Authors of a new book, “Stopping Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Work: The Campaign for an ILO Convention,” share these womens’ stories and describe the powerful movement they created with […]

  The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was sold with the promise to “promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development, equality and structural transformation.” However, many governments’ failure to engage civil society partners, including the labor movement, as they begin to develop national strategies and plans for implementation of the agreement means that the r...

  As the world witnesses some of the greatest challenges to democratic governments since the 1930s, unions offer a strong and essential counter to the trend, according to Cornell University Professor Angela Cornell. “Many studies show that organized labor has played critical role in developing and defending democracy. The organized working class was the primary carrier of democracy,” Cornell said...

  Participants in the afternoon plenary at the International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW) Global Conference heard updates on how trade agreements are advancing worker rights and learned strategies for incorporating forced labor bans and protecting workers’ freedom to form unions. With a focus on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Eric Gottwald and Pablo Franco […]

  As governments and employers move to address the effects of the climate crisis and toward a sustainable future, workers and their unions must be part of the discussions to ensure the creation of decent jobs and respect for workers’ fundamental rights, panelists said today in the opening plenary of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers […]

  Databases of legislation, compilations of laws and successful practices that advance worker rights, trainings, and coordination with allied organizations are some of the suggestions members of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW) recommended the organization pursue. Meeting in breakout groups on the first day of the ILAW Network Global Conference, worker rights lawyers shar...

  Opening the ILAW Network Global Conference 2022, Solidarity Center Rule of Law Director and International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW) Chair Jeffrey Vogt cited the many challenges facing workers—and reviewed the significant achievements ILAW Network members have accomplished to ensure workers achieve their basic rights on the job. “We’re seeing that every effort is being […]

Haiti garment workers should be paid four times their current salaries just to keep pace with the cost of living, a new Solidarity Center study finds. The High Cost of Low Wages in Haiti: A Living Wage Estimate for Garment Workers in Port-au-Prince, determined that based on the current minimum wage ($781 per month), workers […]

Український юрист з трудового права Георгій Сандул розповідає про те, як український Парламент використовує воєнний стан та катастрофу, що принесла війна з росією, аби проштовхнути репресивне трудове законодавство, що значним чином уріже права профспілок та доступ працівників до гідної праці. Сандул заявляє: “Нові закони підривають саме існування трудових прав в Україні”. Більше по цій темі: […]

  Haitian garment workers scored a huge victory as a coalition of unions negotiated an agreement with the government to provide garment workers in Port-Au-Prince with transportation and food stipends.  “In our struggle for a better working environment and fair wages we have always emphasized that the government should provide social support to workers, especially […]

Ukrainian labor lawyer George Sandul describes how the Ukrainian Parliament is using martial law, and the chaos and disaster of the ongoing war with Russia, to push through harsh legislation aimed at gutting unions and limiting workers’ rights to decent jobs. Despite the gains of labor in Ukraine over the last several years, employers are now reducing wages, re-introducing zero hour contracts, and...

The trafficking of agriculture workers, including children, is widespread globally, and “practices of exceptionalism” limit workers’ rights to freedom of association, organizing and collective bargaining, according to a new report on trafficking in persons in agriculture from United Nations Special Rapporteur Siobhán Mullally. “Characterized by high levels of informality, lack of oversight and pro...

  Hundreds of thousands of public employees across Tunisia waged a one-day strike today after talks with the government failed to address the rising cost of living and sinking wages, even as it increases taxes and cuts social programs. “The strike on June 16, 2022, is an opportunity for workers to affirm their unity, hold […]

  A powerful new report shows that collective bargaining changes work and workers’ lives for the better. According to the report, workers in Honduras with collective bargaining agreements are less likely to feel compelled to migrate or to face verbal abuse, and they earn more than workers without collective bargaining agreements. The Solidarity Center-supported report, “Bargaining for Decent Work...

  Agreement, the Largest Wage-Theft Settlement at a Garment Factory, Follows Year-Long Advocacy by International Labor Rights Advocates The Solidarity Center and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) announced today that more than 1,250 Thai workers who sewed bras for Victoria’s Secret, Lane Bryant, and Torrid—and who were fired in 2021 without their legally mandated severance—have […]

In April, at least 18 union leaders were recently arrested in Belarus, where an autocracy has run the country since the fall of the Soviet Union. Among those arrested was Sergey Antusevich, vice president of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, who was a guest on The Solidarity Center Podcast in 2021. On the […]

Comunidades que vivem na Amazônia estão enfrentando o Governo Brasileiro que, sem consultar os mais afetados pela situação, está prestes a implementar um projeto de explosão e dragagem ao longo de um rio que ocasionará a destruição das formas de subsistência de muitas comunidades. Carmen Foro, uma ativista rural e líder sindical brasileira que está à […]

A community that makes its livelihood from the Amazon is standing up to the Brazilian government that, without consulting with the people most affected, is on the verge of undertaking a blasting and dredging project along a river waterway that would destroy their livelihoods. Carmen Foro, a rural activist and a Brazilian union leader on […]

Union activist and leader Mohammad Badri describes the successful campaign by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) to raise the minimum wage, and the ongoing efforts to ensure employers pay workers what they are owed. . Find Out More! Episode Summary PGFTU Photo Story: Palestinian Workers Find Strength in Their  Union Photo Story: […]

Miles de trabajadores mexicanos formaron recientemente un sindicato independiente en la planta automotriz de GM en Silao (el centro del país), derrotando en las elecciones a otro sindicato que no luchaba por sus intereses. María Alejandra Morales Reynoso, secretaria general de SINTTIA (el sindicato que ahora representa a los trabajadores de esa planta), nos cuenta […]

Thousands of workers in Mexico recently formed an independent union at a GM auto plant in Silao, in central Mexico, voting out a union that did not operate in their interest. Maria Alejandra Morales Reynoso, general secretary of SINTTIA, the union that now represents the workers, discusses why this victory is a milestone for many […]

The co-founder and director of the Plantation Rural Education and Development Organization in Sri Lanka describes the work of the Justice for Wage Theft Campaign, a global network of unions and migrant rights organizations, including the Solidarity Center, that formed during the pandemic to push for governmental and employer reforms to ensure migrant workers have […]

Union women in Nigeria are not waiting for their governments to ratify Convention 190, the international treaty that addresses violence and harassment in the world of work—they are taking action now to ensure workers benefit from the incredibly powerful rights it provides. This week’s Solidarity Center Podcast looks at how Nigerian unions are reaching workplaces as diverse as garment factory floor...