Solidarity Center: Recent Episodes
Solidarity Center
Delivery drivers and other app-based workers often struggle to improve their difficult, and even dangerous, working conditions. In the final episode of My Boss Is a Robot, two veteran union organizers offer insights and strategies that gig workers can use to win their rights on the job–from the nuts and bolts of nurturing leaders and […]Source
When a worker dies on the job, shouldn’t their families receive some compensation from the company? App-based delivery drivers and other gig workers don’t. Despite unfair working conditions, many gig workers need to be convinced to join together to get the basic benefits granted to employees in traditional jobs. On this episode of My Boss […]Source
Drivers delivering your pizza are being paid by an algorithm–and the longer they work, the less they are paid. On this episode of My Boss Is a Robot, experts discuss whether we are heading toward a potential future where job autonomy and fair compensation become obsolete. Episode summarySource
Way back when factories were the new thing, there were no rules to stop the big industrialists from paying starvation wages and putting workers’ lives in danger in fire-prone buildings. Today, those out-of-control bosses have been replaced by apps. If apps miscalculate and send drivers in the wrong direction, or lower wages for drivers stuck […]Source
. For app-based workers like delivery drivers, the “free” in freelancer comes at a high cost. The second episode of the Solidarity Center Podcast series, My Boss Is a Robot, explores their battle for fair treatment as they seek to be recognized by companies like Uber and Deliveroo as the employees they really are.
The post App Workers Seek Level Playing Field first appeared on Solidarity Center.
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. If you work seven days a week, 12 hours a day and don’t make enough money to pay the bills, you can talk to your boss, right? Not if your boss is an app. Find out the global impact of app-controlled working conditions on “My Boss Is a Robot,” the new Solidarity Center Podcast […]
The post 21st Century Workplace: Exploitation by App first appeared on Solidarity Center.
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An unprecedented, binding, worker-centered program designed to comprehensively address rampant gender-based violence and harassment in several garment factories in Lesotho is succeeding in creating a safe and dignified workplace in Lesotho, attendees of a high-level summit in the southern African country were told last week. The July 23 summit, “Eradicating Gender-Based Violence and Harassment […]
A garment union leader in Bangladesh and four garment union leaders in Honduras were killed over the weekend, murders the Solidarity Center and global union and human rights organizations are strongly condemning, and which they say highlight the need for employers and governments in every country to ensure workers can safely exercise their basic […]
After a coalition of unions and human rights organizations successfully campaigned for Nigeria’s government to ratify a global treaty on violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), they knew that was just a first step toward ensuring violence-free workplaces in the country. Now, the hard work begins […]
Recognizing that increased numbers help unions better advocate for worker rights and negotiate wages and working conditions with Kyrgyzstan’s employers and government, 28 union activists joined the Solidarity Center’s Organizing School, a four-part program that began in March. The school drew participants from construction, informal trading, public service, taxi and textile sectors, many of […]
A quarter century since joining the fight for worker rights in Mexico, the Solidarity Center celebrated the progress made amid reflections on the historic moment workers and their allies face in the country. “The most important and promising independent union organizing in the world is happening right here, right now in Mexico,” Shawna Bader-Blau, […]
A milestone convening in Tashkent last week brought together stakeholders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan government ministries and agencies, non-governmental and civil society sectors, and international organizations as a first step in developing a joint action plan to combat forced labor and advance worker rights in the region. Worldwide, 28 million people were reportedly […]
The Nigerian working group of a campaign led by the Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) is collaborating on a regional campaign demanding more investment by governments in the health of their citizens. OTUWA represents trade union national centers in the 15 West African countries comprising the Economic Community of West African […]
Following a 136-day strike, Montenegro’s telecom workers are celebrating a collective agreement that reverses a 14-year wage freeze and interrupts more than a decade of alleged union-busting tactics by Crnogorski Telekom (CT), majority owned by Deutsche Telecom since 2005. The agreement won by the Trade Union of Telecom of Montenegro (STCG) immediately increases workers’ wages […]
Ten years after the multi-story Rana Plaza building collapsed in Bangladesh, killing 1,138 workers and injuring thousands more, garment workers and their unions say that although safety has improved in some instances, much more needs to be done. And fundamental to achieving safe working conditions is ensuring workers have the freedom to form unions. […]
For the second time this year a leader of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) was arrested, this time for suspicion of insulting a public official at a protest outside the country’s Ministry of Culture building. The arrest of the UGTT’s secretary for culture, Abdel Nasser Ben Amara last month—who has since been acquitted […]
Dozens of union leaders from across Africa took part in the first-ever Summit for Democracy event on the continent March 30, where they discussed the essential role of unions in strengthening democracy and shared strategies on how unions can step up efforts to advance democracy through one of its most essential components—worker rights. Co-hosted […]
Union activism was integral in getting $1 million in back wages and benefits restored to garment workers in Haiti after they were left jobless when their factory suddenly closed in December. More than 1,000 workers were impacted by the sudden closure, during vacation, of the U.S.-owned Vald’or factory. They did not receive severance pay, […]
On the eve of the Summit for Democracy, high-level U.S. government officials and domestic and international labor activists highlighted the fundamental role of trade unions to reinforce, expand and protect democracy around the world at an official summit side event. The event Tuesday, March 28, “No Democracy Without Unions: Labor Movements as Defenders of […]
Workers from around the world, including those exiled from Belarus, Eswatini and Myanmar for forming unions, striking and trying to speak freely, describe why democracy is important—and why unions are key to democracy. Find Out More Pro-Democracy Eswatini Transport Union Leader Trapped in Exile Myanmar Union Leaders Stand Up for Democracy Myanmar Union Activists […]
The post Workers Speak Out: Unions Are Essential to Democracy first appeared on Solidarity Center.
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The Brazilian government has recently stopped a massive development project along the Paraguay River, as a result of strong union activism in partnership with the indigenous communities that would be affected by such upheaval. Given this significant victory in Brazil, we’re revisiting a podcast from 2022 when we first talked to activist and union leader […]
Brazilian communities along a river near the Amazon are celebrating the government’s decision to halt a blasting and dredging project that could destroy their livelihoods and severely damage the environment. Earlier this month, the Public Prosecutor’s Office recommended that the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) suspend its preliminary license […]
In Eswatini, where union workers are routinely harassed, attacked and even killed for going on strike or holding rallies, union leader Sticks Nkambule was recently targeted by the government for leading a strike to improve working conditions. Forced to flee the country, Nkambule describes the interconnected struggle for worker rights, human rights and democracy. “At […]
App-based drivers worldwide work long hours for often minimum wages while facing safety risks every day—and these issues are compounded for women platform workers, according to speakers at a Commission on the Status of Women (#CSW67) side event, Women Workers Organizing: Transforming the Gig Economy through Collective Action. “Not just in Colombia, but worldwide, […]
The Brazilian Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE) rescued 39 workers, including children, in February from modern slavery in the state of Santa Catarina. Over half of them were Venezuelan migrants who had moved to the state via the government’s Operation Welcome program. A construction company enticed the workers through social media posts in […]
Mësuesit në Kosovë luftojnë për të mbështetur familjet e tyre me pagat e tyre dhe kanë burime të kufizuara në klasë – por thonë se qeveria ua ka kthyer shpinën kërkesave të tyre për bashkëpunim për të përmirësuar arsimin. “Ne po mundohemi të krijojmë një rrjet bashkëpunimi të ndërsjellë -thotë Rrahman Jasharaj, kryetar i Sindikatës […]
Teachers in Kosovo struggle to support their families on their wages and have limited classroom resources–but say the government has turned its back on their requests to partner together to improve education. “We’re trying to establish a mutual cooperation network,” says Rrahman Jasharaj, chair of the teacher’s union, SBASHK. “My colleagues in all Kosovo schools […]
Discrimination, marginalization and powerful political forces like authoritarianism do not stop at a country’s border—and that is why it is so important for black women worldwide connect through their unions and allied organizations, panelists said Thursday at a Solidarity Center-sponsored event. “We need to strengthen this kind of international unity as a way to […]
One year ago, military forces of the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, launching an unprovoked and unnecessary war. This war has cost thousands of lives and damaged Ukraine’s social and economic infrastructure, which will take years to rebuild. Russia’s attack on Ukraine is the direct cause of major food shortages and agricultural supply chain disruptions […]
The expulsion of European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary Esther Lynch is the latest sign of an anti-union, anti-democratic crackdown in Tunisia. Lynch was forced out of the country after speaking at a rally to show solidarity with the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), whose members the government has subjected to a campaign […]
“Recognize our union; negotiate with us!” Pampanga Delivery drivers cried last January 25 during the launch of the Pampanga chapter of the National Union of Delivery Riders (RIDERS). Intending to cover all platform-based delivery drivers from apps like Grab, FoodPanda and Maxim, RIDERS fights for health insurance and income security, among other basic protections. […]
Myrtle Witbooi, a fierce advocate of domestic worker rights who recently passed away, is remembered in this Solidarity Center Podcast episode by Solidarity Center Domestic Worker Global Lead Alexis De Simone. We also hear from Myrtle herself, as she accepted the AFL-CIO’s Human Rights award on behalf of the International Domestic Worker Federation, which […]
Global labor unions and the international human rights community are denouncing the arrest in Tunisia of a top leader in the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT). Anis Kaabi, general secretary of the highway workers’ union, was arrested January 31 after leading a strike by toll booth workers. A coalition of 66 human rights groups […]
Drivers in Nigeria won the country’s first union covering platform-based workers, a victory that shows it is possible for “unions to organize workers in the gig economy,” says Ayoade Ibrahim, secretary general of the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWN). The Ministry of Labor’s recognition of AUATWN empowers it to have […]
Tunisian workers at the call center giant Teleperformance Foundation won big pay and benefit gains in a new contract negotiated by the Informational Technology and Services union. The union is part of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), which took part in negotiations. Effective in March, the agreement includes wage increases between 9.5 percent […]
A new video shows the strategies unions and civil society allies in Kyrgyzstan, with Solidarity Center support, are using to advance and protect the rights of people with disabilities. Strategies include coalition-building and joint advocacy projects with national and local disability rights organizations, pro-bono legal support, data collection, legislative reform and trainings-of-trainers with disabilities. […]
Fearing for his life and liberty, pro-democracy activist and Swaziland Transport, Communication and Allied Workers Union (SWATCAWU) General Secretary Sticks Nkambule remains trapped in exile while his union campaigns to bring him home safely. The murder last month of human and worker rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist Thulani Maseko—whom Nkambule describes as “friend, colleague, […]
Only a worker rights-based approach can ensure that Europe’s growing numbers of teleworkers can fully exercise their fundamental labor rights—including to decent work, which includes safe working conditions—said International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW) members Mihail Cebotari, Inna Kudinska, George Sandul and ILAW Europe and Central Asia Regional Coordinator Tamar Gabisonia during the launch […]
The global labor movement lost a bright light and a pioneering leader on January 16 when Myrtle Witbooi, general secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU), and president of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), passed away after a long and valiant battle with cancer. Myrtle began her career […]
Workers on digital platform companies who are pursuing their rights at work through courts and legislation are making significant gains, especially in Europe and Latin America, according to a new report by the International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW Network). A key finding of Taken for a Ride 2: Accelerating Towards Justice shows that major […]
Workers in the informal waste and recovery sector (IWRS)—such as collectors, traders and waste pickers—help recycle almost 60 percent of the world’s plastic waste and, in some countries, provide the only form of municipal solid waste collection. This service financially supports millions of workers who are already facing social marginalization, poverty, appalling working conditions […]
Flagging a high number of work-related deaths and life-altering injuries in the country during the first ten months of this year, Solidarity Center partners Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) and Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) are educating their members and leadership on how to better protect themselves at work […]
In a powerful demonstration of support for strengthening worker rights to ensure thriving democracies and prosperous economies, representatives from governments, unions and philanthropic organizations met in Washington, D.C., yesterday to renew their commitment to the global initiative, M-POWER (Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment, and Rights). “Labor rights are fundamental to democracy,” said U.S. […]
Thousands of mostly women garment workers in Lesotho who produce jeans and knitwear for the global market are standing up to gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at their factories, homes and communities after participating in education and awareness training, part of a pathbreaking, worker-centered program negotiated in part by the Solidarity Center. And, as a […]
As the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign gets underway, women trade unionists worldwide are building on their momentum to end sexual harassment and gender violence at the workplace. In Georgia, for instance, the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) “pays huge attention to awareness-raising activities on gender-based violence and harassment in the […]
More than a hundred Grab food delivery riders launched the Iloilo Grab Riders Union (IGRU) in Iloilo City, Philippines, on November 24, then staged a unity ride around the city, located on Panay Island. Some 200 drivers joined in the ride, with more riders taking part from the streets, organizers said. The newly formed […]
During this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign and in honor of #GivingTuesday, you can support our work in ending GBVH and get a free copy of the book, “Stopping Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Work,” by donating $100 to the Solidarity Center. Show your solidarity and make a donation now! […] Source
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 […] Source
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was sold with the promise to “promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development, gender 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 […]
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 […] Source
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 […] Source
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 […] Source
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 […] Source
. More than 140 labor lawyers from 42 countries are gathering in Brussels October 6–9 for the second global conference of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network, where they will exchange legal strategies for the promotion and defense of the rights and interests of workers and trade unions, explore coalitions with allies in the […] Source
. Public employees across Tunisia won a 5 percent wage increase over three years plus financial benefits through revisions of the tax code, following a general strike and weeks of difficult negotiations, according to the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT). The agreement also increases the guaranteed minimum wage by 7 percent. “Our objective through this […] Source
A vibrant labor movement is key to thriving democracies because unions reduce economic inequality, strengthen the social safety net and unite diverse groups, say Cornell University law professor Angela Cornell and Colombia union activist and labor lawyer Mery Laura Perdomo. . Find out More Democracy Why Organized Labor Is a Democratic Catalyst The Cambridge Handbook […] Source
. 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), […] Source
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 […]
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 protection, trafficking […]
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, less likely to face verbal abuse and earn more than workers without collective bargaining agreements. The Solidarity Center-supported report, […]
Agreement, the Largest Wage-Theft Settlement at a Garment Factory, Follows Year-Long Advocacy by International Labor Rights Advocates Listen to this story. 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 […]
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: 'Sometimes I Am Lucky to Get a Task for Three Days'
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- People in Need Ukraine
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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 por qué esta victoria supone un hito para muchos trabajadores mexicanos que se ven forzados a afiliarse a falsos sindicatos. Morales nos describe cómo los trabajadores de GM en Silao le plantaron cara a la corrupción generalizada, una legislación en contra, y a la presión de votar por un sindicato de protección a las órdenes del empleador.
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 Mexican workers who are forced to be part of sham unions. Morales describes how workers at the Silao plant stood strong in the face of widespread corruption, laws tilted against them and incredible pressure to cast their vote for a protection union that did the bidding of the company. En español . Find Out More
- Episode Summary
- Mexico: Independent Union Wins Landmark Election
- G.M. Workers in Mexico Pick an Independent Union, a Trade Deal Test Case
- Alejandra Morales Reynoso will be the first female union leader at GM Silao
- How Mexico’s Auto Unions Sell Out Workers
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 access rights fundamental to all workers.
. Find out More * Episode Summary * Justice for Wage Theft * Sign the petition: Say Yes To Justice Now! The Justice for Wage Theft petition demands governments act now to respond to the need of migrant workers and immediately establish justice systems that address the large volume of wage theft justly. * Rights Advocates Build Southeast Asia Campaign Against Wage Theft * The Other Pandemic for Migrant Workers: Wage Theft * Call for an Urgent Justice Mechanism for Repatriated Migrant Workers
Union women in Nigeria are not waiting for their governments to ratify Convention 190, the international treaty that addresses gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) 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 floors and sprawling informal markets, connecting with workers to create the best strategies for ending GBVH at work.
Find out More * Episode summary * Nigerian Labor Congress * Report: Breaking the Silence: Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria’s World of Work * Nigerian Market Vendors Act to End Gender Violence * NLC, Centre, Moves Against Gender-Based Violence in Workplaces * Video: Rita Goyit on the First Anniversary of C190 * NLC’s Gender Equity Policy (adopted in 2003)
In Thailand, Apantree Charoensak, a former union leader who led a campaign to organize fast food workers at KFC, describes on this week’s Solidarity Center Podcast how workers overcame the company’s opposition to successfully form a union and win better wages and working conditions. “They said they would get me out of the company, if I still tried to help other workers.”
. Find Out More * Episode Summary * 2,000 Thailand Fast Food Workers Win First Contract * Thai Worker Rights Advocate Wins Human Rights Award * KFC Wants to Become 75,000-Store Juggernaut: Ninety Percent of Growth Comes from International Markets * #McDonaldsStrike: Fast Food Workers of The World Unite on Social Media
The latest episode of The Solidarity Center Podcast looks at how workers in Colombia and Nigeria who have been targeted by police brutality as they wage peaceful protests to address inequality are joining—and leading—large movements to demand new levels of accountability and reform for the agencies charged with protecting and serving their communities.
Find Out More Episode summary.
COLOMBIA * Solidarity Center Podcast: Colombia Workers Risk Lives for Better Future * CUT: Colombia: Truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition * Confrontation in Colombia: Protesters have demanded not just the rejection of a tax bill but a whole new society * Human Rights Watch Report: Colombia: Egregious Police Abuses Against Protesters * Colombians have thronged to anti-government protests. Hundreds have gone missing. * Colombian police accused of killing, sexually abusing, beating protesters
NIGERIA * Solidarity Center Podcast: Nigerian Informal Workers Demand Decent Work!
Worldwide, agricultural workers have few rights on the job. The latest Solidarity Center Podcast shows how agricultural workers in Jordan recently joined together to collectively campaign for—and win—a landmark law that will bring them safer jobs, overtime pay and even guaranteed 10 weeks paid maternity leave. More than half of agricultural workers in Jordan are women.
. Find Out More * Jordan Agricultural Workers Win Landmark Rights * Uphill Road in Jordan: Women's Daily Struggle Getting to Jobs on Agricultural Complexes * Why Rebuilding Jordan's Social Contract Is Crucial to Agricultural Workers’ Rights Beyond COVID-19
Around the world, young people with few job options are forced to take whatever work they can find, no matter how low the pay or insecure the work. Many sign on with platform-based jobs to get by. Others leave their country with the hope of finding decent, secure work elsewhere, looking for a chance to fairly compete on a level playing field. The latest Solidarity Center Podcast takes a look at what’s happening in Serbia, where one in four young people are not employed and not in school, and how unions there are meeting the challenges.
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Find Out More * The Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia / SSSS (CATUS) * CATUS Facebook * Youth Section, CATUS * Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (ILO, 2018)
Informal economy work is increasing in some European and Central Asian countries. With the exception of Armenia, the picture shows an increase in the share of informal employment as illustrated by the Russian Federation and Serbia.
Informal economy workers in Nigeria are using their collective power, building coalitions with allied organizations and making key gains by joining together through the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organizations of Nigeria (FIWON), a nationwide association with hundreds of branches across the country.
“Poor working people must have access to basic social security, but it doesn’t start with that,” says Gbenga, FIWON founder and general secretary. “It starts with even the right to work without fear. The right to work without harassment and unnecessary molestation. The right to access public spaces as commonwealth, as something that belongs to all of us.”
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Find Out More * Federation of Informal Workers’ Organizations of Nigeria (FIWON) * Informal Economy: The informal economy is the diversified set of economic activities, enterprises, jobs, and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state. The concept originally applied to self-employment in small unregistered enterprises. It has been expanded to include wage employment in unprotected jobs. * Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (ILO, 2018) * “The Poor Also Must Live!” Market Demolition, Gentrification and the Quest for Survival in Lagos State,” 2016, by Gbenga, FIWON founder and general secretary
Defying violent state repression, a diverse coalition of Colombian workers and their unions, Black and Indigenous communities, environmentalists, young people and rural workers made big gains in defeating proposed laws that benefiting the rich at the expense of working people.
Francisco Maltés, president of the Unitary Workers Center (CUT), describes how they did it—and where they go from here.
Find Out More * Unitary Workers Center (CUT) * Colombia Workers Set for National Strike April 29 * ‘This Is a Revolution’: the Faces of Colombia’s Protests * The National Strike in Colombia: a Trade Union Perspective * After Decades of Oppression, Colombian Women Lead Front Lines of National Strike * Confrontation in Colombia: Protesters Have Demanded Not Just the Rejection of a Tax Bill but a Whole New Society. * Families of Protesters Killed in Colombia Face Long Wait for Justice * Amnesty International Report: Colombia: Violent repression, paramilitarism, illegal detention and torture of peaceful protesters in Cali
Speaking from a safe house in military-controlled Myanmar, Phyo Sandar Soe, assistant general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions-Myanmar, describes how workers have been on the frontlines for democracy since the February 1 coup and says the international community can best help workers fighting for their rights by staying out of the country.
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- Chevron & the U.S. Government: No U.S. Dollars to the Myanmar military!
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- Myanmar: National Unity Government Must Be Recognized
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Fact Sheet on Labor Rights Violations by the Military in Myanmar
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Myanmar is One of the 10 Worst Countries for Working People in 2021
International Trade Union Confederation President Ayuba Wabba shares how the collective power of the Nigerian labor movement forced the government to enact policies to help workers during COVID-19 and discusses how the global union movement must work for a new social contract in the post-pandemic world. * A New Contract for Recovery and Resilience, speech by Ayuba Wabba on Decent Work Day, 2020 * New Social Contract: ITUC Report Makes Economic Case for Social Protection * Climate and Labor Justice * NLC Suspends Strike
Adriana Paz Ramírez shares how in the midst of incredible hardship, domestic workers in Latin America have come together through their unions and associations to take care of each other and to use their collective strength to push for the legal rights they deserve as workers. Paz is Latin America Regional Coordinator of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF).
- IDWF
- Domestic Workers: Health, Growing, Taking Action
- Find out the latest on Belarus workers and check out ways to support them:
- Support BMZ workers
- Belarus Solidarity Fund for Naftan workers
- Belarus Solidarity Fund for GrodnoAzot workers
From Nicaragua, Francia Blanco, a trans rights union activist and domestic worker, shares with Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau how she and other trans domestic workers are joining in their union to win rights on the job and respect in their communities. * Domestic Workers: Healing, Growing, Taking Action * FETRADOMOV * LGBT Rights in Nicaragua
George Sandul, a worker rights attorney in Ukraine, joins Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau in a discussion about how unions in Ukraine are engaged in creative campaigns to reach gig economy workers who have few rights as workers under the law.
- Taken for a Ride: Litigating the Digital Platform Model
- Around the World, Platform Food Couriers Are Mobilising for Basic Workers’ Rights
- Worker Rights Experts Field COVID-19 Queries in Ukraine
The COVID-19 pandemic created economic hardship for many workers worldwide, and migrant workers were especially hard hit. Preeda, a migrant rights lawyer in Thailand, discusses how laws that exclude migrant workers from basic support systems like unemployment insurance leave have left millions with no income, and often no way to return home.
- Episode Summary.
- A Pandemic Reset for Migrant Workers, Neha Misra and Shannon Lederer
- How COVID-19 Affects Women in Migration, Carolina Gottardo and Paola Cyment
Host Shawna Bader-Blau, Solidarity Center executive director, talks with worker rights advocates in Belarus and Brazil who share inspiring stories of workers defending democracy. * Episode summary. * UPDATE, June 10: Judge Orders Vale to Pay Victims’ Families in 2019 Mining Disaster * https://www.solidaritycenter.org/podcast/defending-democracy-workers-on-the-frontlines/ * Why Did the Dam Collapse in Brazil? Here’s a Brief Look * Impossible, Unthinkable Change Is Happening in Belarus
South African union activist Brenda Modise speaks with Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau in the first episode of The Solidarity Center Podcast, “Billions of Us, One Just Future,” which highlights conversations with workers (& other smart people) worldwide shaping the workplace for the better. Modise talks about the global campaign to end gender-based violence at work.
As we mark International Women’s Day, South African union activist Brenda Modise shares how union women around the world successfully pushed the International Labor Organization for adoption of Convention 190 to end gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at work, and talks about how unions in South Africa are part of a broad feminist network campaigning to end GBVH there.
- VIDEO: What is Gender-Based Violence at Work?
- South Africa’s C190Can Campaign
- VIDEO: Brenda Modise and union activists campaign to end GBVH at work
- Fact Sheet: C190 Explained
- More information on the global campaign to ratify C190
Solidarity Center is the largest international worker rights organization in the United States. We empower workers in over 60 countries to raise their voice for dignity on the job.