Oct 28, 2024
The Solidarity Center issued the following statement in celebration of International Day of Care and Support:
Today, on the International Day of Care and Support, we honor and celebrate the millions of workers who provide essential care services, from domestic work to child and elder care to home and community health care. Across the world, this work is largely done by women, migrant workers and racialized groups — people who have constantly had the value of their work undervalued and overlooked. Care providers have fought hard over decades to improve their working conditions and advance their rights. But so much remains to be done.
Domestic workers advocated for the adoption of a key International Labor Organization (ILO) standard for protecting and promoting the rights of domestic workers (Convention 189). Care workers were among the leading labor movement voices calling for an international treaty on ending gender-based violence and harassment (Convention 190). Care workers are winning country-level ratification of these treaties. But we’ve also seen staunch opposition from companies and governments to accepting and implementing these standards to ensure dignity and fairness.
In many economies with a shortage of care workers, governments and employers are promoting labor migration to fill the gaps. Yet, too often, migration policies and practices ignore the rights of the workers who migrate. We will continue to work in solidarity with migrant care workers and the unions and organizations that represent them to ensure that governments promote fair regular migration pathways that ensure full worker rights and options for family unity and permanent residence while also preserving the ability for care workers to stay in their home countries.
We know this industry will continue to evolve. The next generation of care workers already use app-based services to find work or have tech increasingly integrated into their jobs. As we look to next summer’s International Labor Conference, we will continue to advocate for public investments in the care economy, the adoption of social protection and anti-discrimination policies, and the recognition that care workers have the right to organize freely and collectively bargain. We stand ready to support workers and their unions as they organize and fight for their rights — no matter what the next frontier of care work brings.
Care work is essential for all of us. It makes all other kinds of work possible. The workers who care for us and our loved ones deserve respect, dignity and decent work. Achieving fair and decent work standards within the care economy is one of Solidarity Center’s key goals in our programs worldwide and is necessary for ensuring quality care for all. As we look to the year ahead, we are proud to stand with unions, care workers themselves, and our partners as they fight for the rights and respect that these critical members of our social and economic fabric deserve.
Sep 27, 2024
Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau mourns the passing of AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Bill Lucy.
The word “giant” is thrown around so often that it can seem meaningless. But I can’t think of a better word to describe Bill Lucy.
Bill was a giant in the U.S. labor movement—as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and founder of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). He was a giant in the civil rights movement and a once-in-a-generation leader whose impact will be felt forever. He was famously with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was assassinated in 1968, there in support of striking sanitation workers, the majority of whom were Black. His work was about forging a deep connection between the civil rights and labor rights movements in the United States.
We were honored that Bill, or “Mr. Lucy,” as so many of us fondly called him, was a founding board member of Solidarity Center. He was also an elected leader for many years at Public Services International (PSI). Our connection as Solidarity Center and our global union partners to the CBTU in the United States was Bill Lucy’s vision. He was a committed internationalist who believed in human rights and democracy for all.
Mr. Lucy championed the cause of many trade unionists around the world. He was among the first U.S. union leaders to build bridges to the Brazilian labor movement after the founding of Solidarity Center. He went to Zimbabwe in the early 2000s in solidarity with the trade unions who were facing repression, and was confronted by that same repression, but never stopped shining a light on that movement for democracy. A decade ago, while still with AFSCME and PSI and as a Solidarity Center board member, he received the first Palestinian labor delegation to the United States in our offices. Bill was also a mentor and friend to so many of us. We will miss him dearly.
There are many tributes to Mr. Lucy’s life and great works—here are a few.
Jun 14, 2024
On June 16 International Domestic Workers Day, the Solidarity Center salutes women union leaders around the world who are urging governments and employers to recognize care as a public good and a human right, and to provide care workers, including migrant workers, with the same basic rights available to other workers—including weekly days off, limits to hours of work, minimum wage coverage, overtime compensation and clear information on the terms and conditions of employment.
“Domestic workers are vital in the care economy, providing crucial support to families and communities. They deserve fair treatment, including fair pay, safe working conditions and benefits. Recognizing and valuing their work is essential for creating a more equitable society,” says Conchita “Suzanne” Baldago, founding chairperson of Sandigan Bahrain, a multinational, multi-sectoral organization representing Bahrain’s migrant workers.
With International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions 149, 156, 189 and 190 providing a normative framework for governments and employers, women workers at the ILO are urging a holistic framework to implement rights outlined by these conventions and affirm care worker rights.
With global labor partners the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Solidarity Center assisted partner domestic worker and other care economy unions and associations with preparations for the ILO’s 112th Session of the International Labor Conference (ILC). Activities included in-person discussions to survey care and domestic workers around the world regarding the development and enforcement of a new care work definition that correctly includes domestic workers as care workers.
An in-person workshop surveying Gulf region domestic worker associations affiliated with Solidarity Center partner Integrated Community Center (ICC) found that although care workers, most of whom in the Gulf are migrant workers, benefit from some legal provisions—such as in Bahrain and Kuwait, from fixed contracts, paid leave and health insurance—the kafala system systematically interferes to drag back any formal economic conditions. The Integrated Community Center (ICC) includes 14 Kuwait-based migrant worker associations and many more affiliate associations across MENA, Africa and Asia. Migrant workers account for an average of 70 percent of the employed population in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and more than 95 percent of private sector workers in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“We need changes in domestic workers’ situations to level up their dignity,” says Sandigan Kuwait Domestic Workers Association community leader Jinki Escuadro about her participation in the ICC’s in-person survey.
The ICC is reporting that labor and domestic work laws in the Gulf are inadequate, including Kuwait’s Domestic Worker Law (2015) and Bahrain’s Private Sector Labor Law (2012)—in no small part due to lack of enforcement.
Under the kafala system, employers in the region—including household heads, governments and private business owners—continue illegal practices such as confiscating and withholding migrant care workers’ passports, engaging in wage theft and enforcing non-contractual working hours, among other practices. The kafala, an employer-driven sponsorship system in Arabian Gulf countries, ties migrant workers to their employers, effectively denying migrant workers fundamental rights and fueling abuse.
The Gulf is routinely at the center of controversy regarding migrant domestic worker complaints of physical, mental and sexual abuse. Estimates by the International Trade Union Confederation indicate that more than 2.1 million women employed in households across the region are at risk of exploitation. Despite recent reforms, two-thirds of Kuwait’s population is comprised of migrant workers who remain vulnerable to abuse that includes physical and sexual violence, reports Human Rights Watch.
ILO Convention 189 established the first global standards for domestic workers more than a decade ago to protect the 75.6 million domestic workers around the world, most of whom are women, many of whom are migrants and children. But there is still much work to be done, say unions, including recognition of the care work performed by domestic workers as one of the cornerstones of the construction of fair, inclusive and resilient societies based on gender equity and decent work.
“To the workers: keep fighting, keep advocating for the recognition of our rights as domestic workers,’ said Carmen Britez, president of the IDWF, the first and only global union federation founded and led by women of color from the Global South. Credit: Solidarity Center / Alexis de Simone
Carmen Britez, president of the IDWF, the first and only global union federation founded and led by women of color from the Global South, issued a message to the workers, governments and employers at the ILC: “To the workers: keep fighting, keep advocating for the recognition of our rights as domestic workers. To the governments: you have responsibilities to uphold to workers and to our societies, to domestic workers, because we have been fighting for our labor rights over many years. And to the employers I say, at a minimum, have a little bit of heart, think about where you come from. Who is taking care of your children? Who is taking care of your grandparents? And where do you come from? From a woman! So take note of this, be sensitized to it, open your hearts and look at us as we are: workers!”
Solidarity Center Americas Regional Program Deputy Director Alexis De Simone says, “Marginalization of poor women workers–especially women of color and migrant workers–is not an accident. It is a deliberately built power structure. And because it was deliberately built by people, it can be deliberately dismantled by people.”
The ILO estimates that by 2030, almost 2 billion children under the age of 15 and 200 million older persons will need care, representing a combined increase over less than a decade of 200 million people who need care. At least 756 million people globally—75 percent of whom are women—are paid domestic care workers who provide direct and indirect care services in a private household. Even considering only those employed directly by households, domestic workers account for 25 percent of all care workers, making up 89 percent of paid home health care workers and 94 percent of paid child care workers.
Mar 7, 2024
When workers can “speak up, articulate and manifest collective agency that ultimately improves the terms and conditions of their employment and their livelihoods,” they also have a role in shaping their societies and “contributing to democratic participation beyond the workplace,” says a new report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB).
“Worker Voice: What it is, What it is Not, and Why it Matters,” was produced by Penn State University’s Center for Global Workers’ Rights (CGWR).
“The term ‘worker voice’ is used for lots of scenarios where workers have some sort of participation but not necessarily a say in issues that affect their lives and livelihoods,” said Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau. “If you care about democracy and worker rights, this is the seminal report.”
For example, corporate social responsibility programs that interview workers on site, under the helpful gaze of management, may provide a public relations boost to the company but do not capture worker voice; indeed, they often contribute to wage suppression and gloss over lax safety standards. Likewise, workplace suggestion boxes, which require zero response from management, neither provide workers with a voice nor help them ensure dignity and equity on the job.
“The most effective forms of worker voice are institutions and mechanisms that enhance workers’ ability to elect, represent, protect, include, enable and empower workers and their organizations,” according to the report, which highlighted democratic trade unions and collective bargaining as key.
Legitimate and effective channels for worker voice exist and include enforceable brand agreements (EBAs), such as the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which identified and remediated 97,235 high-risk fire, structural and electrical safety violations following the deadly collapse of Rana Plaza. In Lesotho, where brand-led, voluntary codes of conduct failed to address rampant gender-based violence and harassment, binding and enforceable agreements among unions, civil society, international clothing brands and worker rights organizations (including the Solidarity Center) and Nien Hsing, a garment manufacturer, are changing attitudes, protecting workers and helping to end violence and harassment on the job.
In addition, the report cites the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism, under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has provided expedited enforcement of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights at factories in Mexico for more than 30,000 workers. Other channels include organizing along migration corridors and among domestic and farm workers; and freedom of association protocols.
The report describes six components that are crucial for effective worker voice: election of representatives; representation of members; diversity in leadership, on committees and throughout organizations; protection of workers from anti-union discrimination, harassment, threats and violence; the enabling of worker organizations to carry out functions by ensuring members have time, space, information and training; empowerment of workers and their organizations to engage in protected trade union activities, including collective bargaining and strikes, by leveraging state and private mechanisms that have sanction power on employers.
The report’s case studies include many countries and sectors where the Solidarity Center has long-term partnerships with unions that provide effective worker voice, among them, Bangladesh, Honduras, Lesotho, Mexico and Myanmar.
Recognizing the importance of democratic freedoms in securing effective worker voice, the Solidarity Center has long partnered with unions fighting for their right to democratic freedoms, including freedom of association and of assembly. These efforts include the historic 2023 Zambia Summit for Democracy, where participating unions and governments shared strategies on how unions can advance democracy through one of its most essential components—worker rights—and Solidarity Center support for union partners fighting for their rights in Bahrain, the Philippines, Swaziland and Tunisia.
Nov 29, 2023
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: WORKERS ADDRESS GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE & HARASSMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA’S GARMENT FACTORIES AND CLOTHING RETAIL STORES
In South Africa, 98 percent of women garment and retail workers surveyed in 2022 said they had experienced one or more forms of gender-based violence or harassment, including physical abuse, unwanted sexual advances, psychological abuse, bullying and rape. To better understand the experiences of women and other marginalized workers in garment and retail industries with GBVH, and elevate their voices in advocacy campaigns, the Solidarity Center partnered with three trade unions and two civil society organizations to conduct participatory action research.
Download it here.
IN OUR OWN WORDS: WORKERS ADDRESS GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT IN GARMENT FACTORIES IN BANGLADESH
In Bangladesh, 80 percent of women garment workers surveyed in 2019 reported they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment, molestation or assault, endured extreme verbal abuse or witnessed a factory manager or supervisor abuse and harass other women in the factory. To better understand the experiences of women the garment industry with GBVH and elevate their voices in advocacy campaigns, the Solidarity Center partnered with six trade union federations and three civil society organizations to conduct participatory action research.
Download it in English and Bangla.
