The ability of workers to freely form unions is such a fundamental human right that the United Nations (UN) holds countries accountable for violating those rights, according to Lance Compa, senior lecturer in labor law at Cornell University. “Even countries that have...
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.
Worker Rights Lawyers Join in First Global Conference
From Chile to Zimbabwe, the past year has been one of protest and struggle as unions, workers and citizens are standing up against economies that do not work for working people, said Solidarity Rule of Law Director Jeff Vogt, opening the first International Lawyers...
Kidnapped Honduran Union Leader Found Alive, Injured
Jaime Atilio Rodríguez, a union leader and human rights activist in Honduras, was found alive yesterday after being kidnapped and apparently tortured. Rodríguez, former president of the Union of Middle School Teachers (COPEMH), disappeared October 28 on the way to the...
![The Struggle for Worker Rights in Egypt (2010)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Egypt.Justice-for-All.Arabic.jpg)
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Egypt (2010)
The situation for workers in Egypt in 2010 sadly bears all too much similarity to that conflict between Egyptian workers and their government so many centuries ago. Today’s Egyptian government maintains an iron grip on power, harshly punishes dissent and plays a...
![Out of Sight, Out of Mind (2009)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Untitled-3.jpg)
Out of Sight, Out of Mind (2009)
This 2009 Solidarity Center study focuses on migrant men who have worked on Thai fishing boats out of the port of Mahachai in Samut Sakhon province, examining recruitment practices, working conditions and payment practices to assess the patterns and prevalence of...
![The True Cost of Shrimp (2008)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/True-Cost-of-Shrimp-2008.jpg)
The True Cost of Shrimp (2008)
In little more than 30 years, the shrimp industry has been revolutionized through an unprecedented increase in efficient production, resulting in tremendous profitability for producers. But the “shrimp boom” is sustained through a staggering, largely hidden, cost to...
![The Struggle for Worker Rights in Guatemala (2008)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Untitled-1.jpg)
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Guatemala (2008)
Guatemala’s laws include unreasonable restrictions and requirements on union membership and the right to strike. Women workers are usually paid less than their male counterparts for work of equal value. Indigenous workers and rural workers, with few legal rights, are...
![Justice for All (2008)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Justice-for-All-cover.jpg)
Justice for All (2008)
"Justice for All" examines the effects of global economic integration in the late 20th century on worker rights, including the growth of the informal economy and migration and human labor trafficking, and looks at how government, corporations and unions can help...
![Trafficking in Persons from a Labor Perspective: The Kenyan Experience (2007)](https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Trafficking-in-Persons-from.jpg)
Trafficking in Persons from a Labor Perspective: The Kenyan Experience (2007)
Trafficking in Persons from a Labor Perspective: The Kenyan Experience provides readers with a general overview of human trafficking in persons from a labor perspective, with a focus on universal and global themes as illustrated by the experiences in Kenya. The...