Around the world, young people with few job options are forced to take whatever work they can find, no matter how low the pay or insecure the work. Many sign on with platform-based jobs to get by. Others leave their country with the hope of finding decent, secure work...
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.
Podcast: Nigerian Informal Workers Demand Decent Work
Worldwide, 2 billion workers perform essential work selling goods in street markets, driving taxis or cleaning homes. The vast majority of these jobs are low wage, with no security and no paid sick leave or health care. In Nigeria, where more than 80 percent of the...
Brazil Street Vendors Seek a Future of Decent Work, Respect
Millions of street vendors worldwide lost their livelihoods nearly overnight during the pandemic, unable to sell in open markets during lockdowns or unwilling to risk their health to do so. But street vendors in Brazil, through the National Union of Street Vendors...
![The Benefits of Collective Bargaining for Women Workers in Morocco](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Publication-cover.Morocco.Benefits-of-Collective-Bargaining-for-Women.2020-314x314-1.jpg)
The Benefits of Collective Bargaining for Women Workers in Morocco
Download in English. Download in Arabic. This report was made possible through the generous support of the Ford Foundation.
![Agricultural Workers and Morocco’s Economy Benefit from Collective Bargaining Agreements](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Publication-cover.Morocco.Collective-bargaining-in-formal-agriculture-sector.2020-314x314-1.jpg)
Agricultural Workers and Morocco’s Economy Benefit from Collective Bargaining Agreements
. Download in English Download in Arabic. This report was made possible through the generous support of the Ford Foundation.
![Annual Report, 2018–2019](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Solidarity-Center-Annual-Report-cover.2018-2019.jpg)
Annual Report, 2018–2019
Download here.
![When the Job Hurts: Workplace Injury and Disease among South Africa’s Domestic Workers](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Rule-of-Law.When-the-Job-Hurts-Workplace-Injury-and-Disease-among-South-Africas-Domestic-Workers.Cover_.1.20.jpg)
When the Job Hurts: Workplace Injury and Disease among South Africa’s Domestic Workers
Through individual case studies and legal analysis, When the Job Hurts demonstrates the need for domestic workers in South Africa to receive the same coverage under the country's job safety and health compensation law as other workers. Download report.
![Freedoms on the Move: The Civic Space of Migrant Workers and Refugees](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Migration.Freedoms-on-the-Move-cover.10.19.jpg)
Freedoms on the Move: The Civic Space of Migrant Workers and Refugees
Freedoms on the Move, a new report by Solidarity Center and CIVICUS, makes clear that many migrant workers and refugees want to have a say in their communities and their workplaces, and in the decisions that affect their lives—and is an urgent call to action for...
![ILO GBV at Work Standard: First-Ever Comprehensive Legal Standard](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Gender.ROL_.Legal-Brief-ILO-GBV-Convention.cover_.6.19.jpg)
ILO GBV at Work Standard: First-Ever Comprehensive Legal Standard
A Solidarity Center legal analysis shows the proposed ILO convention on gender-based violence and harassment at work is necessary because no global binding instrument exists that comprehensively addresses violence and harassment in the world of work, including...