More than 100 participants took part in ILAW’s first conference in November 2019. Credit: Solidarity Center/Matt Hersey
Established in December 2018 by the Solidarity Center, the International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network is the largest global network of workers’ rights lawyers and advocates. Given that workers are confronting common legal issues worldwide, and that, increasingly, legal issues involve multiple jurisdictions, effective representation of workers and unions requires uniting legal practitioners and scholars to exchange information and ideas from around the world.
The ILAW Network’s core mission is facilitating collaboration among members to develop creative solutions to promote workers’ rights around the world—through campaigns, policy analysis, litigation and legislation. The network has successfully supported workers and unions around the world to defeat repressive legislation, promote legal reforms and explore novel litigation to hold companies responsible for union busting. The ILAW Network also holds an extensive online library of news and legal information from around the world to keep members up to date on legal developments.
The ILAW Network is supported by an advisory board of 20 lawyers from 20 countries, with expertise on a broad range of legal matters.
Millions of workers still face widespread discrimination in employment and at the workplace—even though 65 years ago, 175 countries adopted an international convention seeking equality of opportunity and treatment. “We still find that employers find very clever ways...
In the face of intense pushback by exploitive global app-based companies operating in the Republic of Georgia—where workers are beholden to algorithmic whims to earn their uncertain livelihoods—unions are fighting for platform worker rights through advocacy campaigns,...
For many job seekers, joining the ranks of delivery drivers or other app-based workers is sold as entrepreneurship–a way to make money as an independent contractor and be their own boss. But the reality is much different, as workers from Africa to Latin America have...
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In Cambodia, workers health and safety and climate change are linked. This report details the results of surveys, interviews, and thermal monitoring conducted in the garment, delivery, and informal food sector that display the negative effect that heat has on workers,...
In 2023, the Solidarity Center supported workers as they took on exploitative multinational companies and robot algorithms, demanded their governments tackle social ills and deliver on promises, and fought for justice in environments increasingly dangerous to those...
In South Africa, 98 percent of women garment and retail workers surveyed in 2022 said they had experienced one or more forms of gender-based violence or harassment, including physical abuse, unwanted sexual advances, psychological abuse, bullying and rape. To better...
In Bangladesh, 80 percent of women garment workers surveyed in 2019 reported they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment, molestation or assault, endured extreme verbal abuse or witnessed a factory manager or supervisor abuse and harass other women in the...
The Solidarity Center Global Impact report highlights the Solidarity Center's support of unions and civil society organizations in ending gender-based violence (GBVH) at work and showcases key outcomes, including a landmark agreement to address GBVH in Lesotho garment...