Corrupt corporate practices that allow multinational companies to reap billions at the expense of impoverished communities undermine global goals for development, mutually beneficial trade, creation of inclusive economies, shared prosperity and the very foundations of U.S. policies like AGOA, writes the Solidarity Center’s Shawna Bader-Blau and ActionAid USA’s Marie Clarke.
A Solidarity Center website article was republished.
Jamie Davis, Solidarity Center Myanmar country director, discusses how unions, starting from scratch after decades of military rule, are organizing workers and making gains. “We need to make sure workers in Myanmar, as in any country, including the United States, have a voice.”
“Over the past three years, the Bangladesh government has approved fewer and fewer union registration applications. Through their unions, workers are able to speak out freely about safety and health concerns at their worksites and prevent horrible tragedies like Rana Plaza. Limiting workers from forming unions puts workers’ safety at risk,” said Tim Ryan, Solidarity Center director of Asia programs.
Imani Countess, the Africa regional program director for the Solidarity Center, said that workers should receive the rewards of their work—decent pay, benefits, safe working conditions, respect and fair treatment. “So when in 2013 we heard that over 100 women in Hwange peacefully protested—demanding that wages owed to their men be paid—and were met by police violence resulting in injuries for several, we were shocked.”
An astounding 80,000 Zimbabwe workers in formal employment–out of some 350,000 workers–did not receive wages and benefits on time in 2014, according to a new Solidarity Center report, ‘Working Without Pay: Wage Theft in Zimbabwe,’ released today in Harare.