Freedom to Form Unions

Honduras, garment workers, worker rights, Solidarity Center

More than 40,000 garment workers in Honduras are now covered by collective bargaining agreements following long-time Solidarity Center support for organizing. Credit: Solidarity Center/Molly McCoy

Unions promote a higher level of economic equality in societies and are a fundamental element of a free and democratic society. Freedom of association—workers’ right to form and join unions and pursue a voice on the job and in their communities—is the foundation for worker rights.

The Solidarity Center trains union organizers and provides support for unions around the world. We support organizing campaigns, educate workers about their legal right to form a union and promote strong labor laws.

The Solidarity Center works directly on the ground with workers to form unions and win collective bargaining agreements. For instance, in Cambodia, 8,000 hotel and casino workers at Nagaworld casino won large wage increases and reinstatement of their dismissed union president following Solidarity Center union organizing support and legal assistance. And in Honduras, long-time Solidarity Center support for organizing has resulted in more than 40,000 garment workers, mostly women, now covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Read the “Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association” report presented in 2016 to the United Nations.

Bangladesh Garment Workers: Hopeful, Cautious

With the unexpected shift in Bangladesh political leadership, garment workers say they are hopeful but cautious about the effect on their wages, working conditions and fundamental civil rights, such as the freedom to form unions. “We hope something positive will...

GLOBAL UNION LEADERS FIGHT FOR WORKER RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY

Dozens of union leaders from around the world who are working to advance democracy in communities and workplaces convened last week in Washington, D.C., to discuss the essential role of unions in leading social change and addressing multiple global crises, including...

PHILIPPINE WORKERS, UNIONS RECOGNIZED FOR ‘COURAGE IN THE FACE OF EXTREME VIOLENCE’

For their courage and persistence in the face of escalating threats to their own lives, seven delegates representing the Philippine labor movement received the 2023 AFL-CIO George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., this week. The...
Bangladesh Garment Workers: Hopeful, Cautious

Bangladesh Garment Workers: Hopeful, Cautious

With the unexpected shift in Bangladesh political leadership, garment workers say they are hopeful but cautious about the effect on their wages, working conditions and fundamental civil rights, such as the freedom to form unions. “We hope something positive will...

GLOBAL UNION LEADERS FIGHT FOR WORKER RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY

GLOBAL UNION LEADERS FIGHT FOR WORKER RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY

Dozens of union leaders from around the world who are working to advance democracy in communities and workplaces convened last week in Washington, D.C., to discuss the essential role of unions in leading social change and addressing multiple global crises, including...

2022 Annual Report

2022 Annual Report

In 2022, the Solidarity Center marked a quarter century of supporting embattled workers, advocating and litigating for change, and celebrating worker rights advances in troubled times. As crackdowns on fundamental civil rights intensify around the world, workers and...

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