The Solidarity Center, as part of the global labor movement, is proud to closely work with trade unions, civil society organizations, academic institutions, progressive private foundations, labor-friendly businesses, governments and dozens of generous individuals to...
Freedom to Form Unions
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.
Honduran Domestic Workers Join Newly Formed Union
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...
Bangladesh Garment Workers: New Blocks to Form Unions
In Bangladesh, garment workers often seek to form unions and worker associations to better protect against wage theft, unfair treatment and lack of health and safety protections, including large-scale safety threats like building collapses. Yet they increasingly are...
Trafficking of Women and Children in Indonesia (2003)
"Trafficking of Women and Children in Indonesia" examines the many forms of human labor trafficking, their causes and the demographics fueling the rise of women and children in forced and exploitative labor. Download here.
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Sri Lanka
In this second report of Solidarity Center's Justice for All series, worker rights researcher Lance Compa assesses how two decades of civil war affected democracy, economy and social justice in Sri Lanka. Compa compares Sri Lanka’s labor law and practice...
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Mexico (2003)
The first report in the Solidarity Center's "Justice for All" series, takes a hard look at Mexico’s century-long fight for independent, democratic trade unions and social justice. Author Lance Compa puts Mexico’s labor law and practice to the test against...