Domestic workers in Honduras increasingly are exercising their rights on the job in the country, where they have few labor law protections and so are especially vulnerable to abuse. More than 100 workers recently joined SINTRAHO (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadoras del...
The Solidarity Center supported the development of the Afro-Colombian Labor Council, the first national organization in Colombia dedicated to improving the working conditions of Afro-descendants. Credit: Solidarity Center/Rhett Doumitt
The Solidarity Center engages with unions and their allies through an analysis and practice of equality, radical inclusion and intersectionality that is explicitly feminist, anti-racist, pro-equality, pro-worker, pro-migrant and class conscious.
The Solidarity Center designs and implements strategies to confront the multiple and intersecting forms of oppression that contribute to economic structures in which women and other groups of workers are devalued and excluded from economic and social equality. This requires a conscious effort to examine how oppressive forces play out throughout the global labor movement with a commitment to dismantle these systems. Explicit in this work is the understanding that the agency and leadership of the most marginalized workers are key components of decent work and economic justice for all.
The Solidarity Center has assisted unions and their allies in countries such as Cambodia, Colombia, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Nicaragua, South Africa and Tunisia to ensure meaningful participation of historically excluded and marginalized workers in unions and other democratic structures.
See related factsheets, videos and reports.
In Morocco, the Solidarity Center supported a multi-year effort to build women worker power and gender equality which led to the inclusion of women workers during negotiations for the first collective bargaining agreement in the informal agriculture sector. In Colombia, the Solidarity Center supported the development of the first national organization dedicated to improving the working conditions of Afro-Colombians.
In Kyrgyzstan, Morocco and Tunisia, Solidarity Center is assisting in strengthening union efforts to promote inclusion of individuals with disabilities. In Nicaragua, Solidarity Center supports domestic workers as they address inclusion of LGBTQI union members to ensure they can represent themselves, articulate their priorities and increase their leadership opportunities and visibility.
The Solidarity Center:
- Conducts research and awareness-raising to challenge systems of oppression and inform inclusive approaches to building worker power across social identities at all levels
- Supports representative, inclusive leadership in our partner organizations
- Engages in cross-movement work to combat tools of oppression that impact women, including gender-based violence and harassment at work
- Brings together unions and community groups to identify shared socioeconomic struggles, analyzes how those struggles are linked to systemic racism and implements organizing, legal and advocacy strategies to collectively overcome the oppression that entraps workers in poverty
- Advocates for economic policies that uproot systemic discrimination and exploitation in labor markets.
Annual Report, 2018–2019
Download here.
[IndustriAll] Gender Violence Study in Brazilian Garment Factories Provides a ‘Wake-up Call to Action’
The vast majority of Brazilian textile and shoe factory workers who took part in a recent study say they have experienced some form of violence at work, often gender-based violence and harassment—to the extent that “for many women, work is synonymous with suffering,” writes the Solidarity Center’s Tula Connell.
![Solidarity Center Gender Programming Manual (2006)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/pubs_gendercoversmall.jpg)
Solidarity Center Gender Programming Manual (2006)
This 70-page handbook incorporates staff insights and experiences into checklists and tools needed to develop programs that redress gender inequity in the workplace, promote leadership roles for women, and move closer to achieving full worker rights. Download here....
![The Struggle for Worker Rights in Swaziland (2006)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/01/Swaziland-cover.jpg)
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Swaziland (2006)
Swazi workers face many challenges, especially women workers, who have a low status in Swazi society and make up a large percentage of the workforce, yet endure discrimination and workplace sexual harassment and violence. Improvements at the workplace cannot be...
![Tools for Organizers in Export Processing Zones and Industries](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Tools-for-Organizers-cover.jpg)
Tools for Organizers in Export Processing Zones and Industries
Building worker power is fundamental to achieving worker rights, and organizing strong unions is fundamental to achieving worker power--and this hands-on guide gives trainers the tools they need to build unity and ultimately, change the rules of the game. Download...
![The Struggle for Worker Rights in Colombia (2006)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Untitled-2.jpg)
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Colombia (2006)
Colombian trade unionists face daily threats of violence and assassination, attempts by employers, paramilitaries, guerrillas and the state to stop dissent, silence workers and destroy the only mechanism that gives workers some control over their economic lives: their...
![When They Were Sold: Trafficking of Women and Girls in 15 Provinces of Indonesia (2006)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/Indonesia.When-They-Were-Sold-cover.jpg)
When They Were Sold: Trafficking of Women and Girls in 15 Provinces of Indonesia (2006)
The report looks at Indonesia's migrant worker system, which is under intense scrutiny over allegations of contributing to debt bondage and trafficking of migrant workers. It also examines efforts of government and non-government organizations to combat trafficking,...
![The Struggle for Worker Rights in Jordan (2005)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2005/12/Jordan-JFA-1.jpg)
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Jordan (2005)
"The Struggle for Worker Rights in Jordan" lays out steps the Jordanian government, Jordanian unions, multinational enterprises and actors on the international stage can take to ensure respect for and enforcement of worker rights in Jordan. By following this path,...