The Inter-American Court of Human Rights this week issued an historic ruling that affirmed a worker’s right to strike. The case arises out of a collective dispute in 1996 when efforts by the Union of Workers of the Judicial Body to negotiate a new collective agreement...
The Solidarity Center works to ensure all workers, such as Bangladesh garment workers, have access to their legal workplace rights. Credit: Solidarity Center/Balmi Chisim
The Solidarity Center works to ensure that all workers have rights protected under international law and have access to effective legal remedies if those rights are violated.
The Solidarity Center works with workers, unions and other organizations around the world to rewrite the rules so workers can form unions and take collective action to promote their rights and be free from exploitation. The Solidarity Center has assisted workers and unions in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Guatemala, Myanmar, Thailand and Ukraine to analyze legislation and develop strategies to defeat repressive legislation and promote laws and regulations consistent with international law.
Our work supports novel litigation at the national and regional levels to expand rights to workers and unions. For example, the Solidarity Center has supported constitutional litigation to ensure domestic workers in South Africa have access to the national workers compensation fund, and is working with lawyers in Bangladesh to support workers in challenging the use of false criminal charges to dismiss and silence workers. The Solidarity Center also supports efforts in regional human rights courts to promote the rights of informal economy workers in Africa and to hold governments accountable for anti-union violence in the Americas.
The Solidarity Center also is working to build accountability for multinational firms in global supply chains that remain largely beyond the reach of the law in countries where their suppliers are located and in their home countries. The lack of accountability is a major driver of worker exploitation in supply chains, including wage theft, unsafe workplaces, violence against workers and attacks against unions.
Educating workers on their rights and how to use them in the workplace is also a key component of our work. Through the International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW), we are building a legal community and increasing the capacity of lawyers and activists to effectively use domestic, regional and international laws and institutions. The ILAW Network brings together more than 400 lawyers in some 55 countries.
Podcast: ‘No’ to State Violence! Reimagining Policing
Police violence, which escalated during COVID-19, is part of a rising tide of global crackdowns targeting marginalized communities, workers and young people struggling to support themselves. The latest episode of The Solidarity Center Podcast looks at how workers in...
Nigerian Market Vendors Act to End Gender Violence
A magistrate court in Nigeria this week recommended prosecution of a man accused of sexually assaulting a minor in a bustling Lagos open marketplace—and gender rights activists there say the move was the direct result of awareness training conducted with market...
![Working Without Pay: Wage Theft in Zimbabwe](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Capture.full-cover.png)
Working Without Pay: Wage Theft in Zimbabwe
Wage theft is widespread throughout the the public- and private-sectors, with Zimbabweans working months without a paycheck. Based on surveys at 442 companies, the report documents the vast scope of wage theft; outlines the responsibilities of the state under...
![Transforming Women’s Work: Policies for an Inclusive Economic Agenda](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Gender.Report.Transforming-Womens-Work.Policies-for-an-Inclusive-Economic-Agenda3.16.png)
Transforming Women’s Work: Policies for an Inclusive Economic Agenda
Convening experts from the AFL-CIO, the Rutgers University Center for Women’s Global Leadership and the Solidarity Center, this report examines how to shift governments' policy priorities, create an enabling environment for social organizing and transform women’s...
![Putting Union Gender Equality Policy into Practice in South Africa](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Gender-report-cover.Putting-Union-Gender-Equality-Policy-into-Practice-in-South-Africa.10.2015.jpg)
Putting Union Gender Equality Policy into Practice in South Africa
Unions are key drivers advancing gender equality. Yet in many countries around the world, there is a disconnect between labor union policy and practice in transforming gender inequalities within trade unions. Through the lens of the South African union movement, this...
![Annual Report 2014](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Annual-Report-cover.2014.jpg)
Annual Report 2014
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![Labor Migration and Inclusive Growth: Toward Creating Employment in Origin Communities (2015)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Migration.Toward-Creating-Employment-in-Origin-Communities.5.15.jpg)
Labor Migration and Inclusive Growth: Toward Creating Employment in Origin Communities (2015)
This paper investigates the intersection of labor migration and the inclusive growth agenda, and seeks to recommend policies so governments of origin countries can, in part, expand labor migration’s positive impacts by making migrant workers agents in promoting and...
![Roles for Workers and Unions in Regulating Labor Recruitment in Mexico (2015)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Migration.Roles-for-Workers-and-Unions-in-Regulating-Labor-Recruitment-in-Mexico.jpg)
Roles for Workers and Unions in Regulating Labor Recruitment in Mexico (2015)
Fordham University law professor Jennifer Gordon examines the roles of guest workers as organizers, monitors and policy-setters in supply chain initiatives and other efforts to address labor recruitment violations. Download here.