Despite unfair working conditions, many gig workers need to be convinced to join together in unions or associations to more effectively advocate for basic benefits granted to employees in traditional jobs. On the latest episode of the Solidarity Center Podcast series...
The Solidarity Center assists workers in the informal economy, such as market vendors in Zimbabwe, come together to assert their rights and raise living standards. Credit: ZCIEA
Some 2 billion people work in the informal sector as domestic workers, taxi drivers, and street vendors, many of them women workers. Informal economy work now comprises the majority of jobs in many countries and is increasing worldwide. Although informal economy workers can create up to half of a country’s gross national product, most have no access to health care, sick leave or support when they lose their jobs, and they have little power to advocate for living wages and safe and secure work.
The Solidarity Center is part of a broad-based movement in dozens of countries to help workers in the informal economy come together to assert their rights and raise living standards. For instance, three affiliates of the Central Organization of Trade Unions-Kenya (COTU-K), a Solidarity Center partner, signed agreements with informal worker associations to unionize the workers, enabling them to access to the country’s legal protections for formal-sector employees.
Find out more about informal workers gaining power by joining together in unions and worker associations in this Solidarity Center-supported publication, Informal Workers and Collective Action: A Global Perspective.
Tech Discrimination: The New Way We Work?
Ride share drivers face many job-based hazards–and for women, the dangers are compounded by sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence. Women app-based workers also are disproportionately targeted by what law scholar Veena Dubal has termed "algorithmic...
Kyrgyz App-Based Drivers Win First Agreement with Employer
App-based drivers in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, achieved a historic milestone by negotiating a first collective bargaining agreement with a leading platform-based transportation company, Osh Taxi. The September 29 pact, negotiated by the Kabylan union, extends beyond union...
![2022 Annual Report](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Solidarity-Center-Annual-Report-2022-pdf.jpg)
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...
![TELEWORKING IN SOUTH AFRICA: LAWS AND CHALLENGES IN AN UNEQUAL SOCIETY](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/FINAL-TELEWORKING-IN-SOUTH-AFRICA-pdf-1.jpg)
TELEWORKING IN SOUTH AFRICA: LAWS AND CHALLENGES IN AN UNEQUAL SOCIETY
The ILAW Network is pleased to release reports on the regulation of telework in Mauritius and South Africa. The reports examine the impact of telework on a range of worker rights topics, including the regulation of atypical work, access to health and safety measures,...
![AN ASSESSMENT OF THE TELEWORKING LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AN-ASSESSMENT-OF-THE-TELEWORKING-LEGAL-FRAMEWORK-IN-THE-REPUBLIC-OF-MAURITIUS-pdf-1.jpg)
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE TELEWORKING LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS
The ILAW Network is pleased to release reports on the regulation of telework in Mauritius and South Africa. The reports examine the impact of telework on a range of worker rights topics, including the regulation of atypical work, access to health and safety measures,...
![TELEWORK IN UKRAINE](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Final-Telework-in-Ukraine-pdf-1.jpg)
TELEWORK IN UKRAINE
The ILAW Network has undertaken a research series on telework in Europe and Central Asia. National reports examining the regulation of telework in Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine examine the impact of telework on a range of worker rights issues, including work hours and...
![TELEWORK IN POLAND](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Poland-Telework-final-pdf-1.jpg)
TELEWORK IN POLAND
The ILAW Network has undertaken a research series on telework in Europe and Central Asia. National reports examining the regulation of telework in Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine examine the impact of telework on a range of worker rights issues, including work hours and...
![TELEWORK IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Moldova-Telework-FINAL-pdf-1.jpg)
TELEWORK IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
The ILAW Network has undertaken a research series on telework in Europe and Central Asia. National reports examining the regulation of telework in Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine examine the impact of telework on a range of worker rights issues, including work hours and...