Nov 15, 2024
Nearly 2,000 workers at textile factories in Casablanca, Morocco, now can receive decent pay, health care protection and a voice on the job after joining the Moroccan Workers’ Union (UMT) and the federation of textile workers.
“We joined the union primarily to preserve our dignity, which some managers have trampled on,” said one worker, who voted for the union. (Names are not used to protect workers’ privacy).
All 605 workers in three factories in Casablanca and the majority of the more than 1,000 workers in four additional factories in the area’s large textile industry joined the union.
With a union, workers at textile factories are able to address workplace safety and GBVH. Credit: Hicham Ahmaddouh
Without a union, said one worker, “we couldn’t find solutions to our issues or secure our legal rights, which the company has neglected for more than five years.”
Workers at the leather, textiles, and ready-made garment factories are involved in leather production, sewing, dyeing, supplies and garment manufacturing. They say they often were not paid wages, and received insufficient compensation when often required to work overtime—or engage in fewer hours than specified by the government.
“Wage payments are often delayed, and we only receive them after striking and protesting,” one worker stated when describing conditions before the union representation.
Another worker described being “required to work up to 240 hours a month instead of the legal 191, which should qualify as overtime, yet we receive no compensation.”
Developing Outreach
Achieving success in mobilizing and assisting textile workers to form unions was part of a two-year campaign involving Solidarity Center support in providing data and analysis of key employers, supply chains and other information.
Together with the UMT, the Solidarity Center trained a team led by two women and one man to head up the organizing drive. Over the past year, the team conducted one-on-one outreach at the factories, located in a difficult to access industrial zone. They met with company officials, organized offsite outreach meetings and collected worker stories about their needs and challenges in accessing their fundamental rights.
The outreach effort is essential for expanding the union’s efforts to broaden worker rights.
“Organizing textile workers is crucial to strengthening the union’s capacity to advocate for workers’ rights, secure demands and build solidarity within the Moroccan Labor Union and the National Union of Textile, Leather, and Ready-Made Garment Workers,” said Al-Arabi Hamouk, general secretary of the National Federation of Textile, Leather and Ready-Made Garment Workers.
Textile workers sought improved occupational health and safety in the factories and wanted to ensure the companies’ adherence to labor laws and payment to the country’s social protection fund
“Since 2023, we have been deprived of health coverage because the company hasn’t paid the required contributions, even though they are deducted from our wages,” one worker said.
By forming a union, abuses such as gender-based violence and harassment could be addressed, according to a factory worker.
She said in the past, workers suffered “from verbal and sexual harassment by some managers, as well as arbitrary individual and collective dismissals when demand decreases or when we ask for our legal rights.”
“The Solidarity Center played a critical role in the success of the campaign within the textile sector,” said Hamouk. “The organizing team demonstrated the ability to strategize, and address challenges.”
Assisting textile workers in forming unions moves forward their ability to achieve decent wages, safe workplaces and essential health care coverage—and advances their democratic rights to freely form unions.
Said one union member: “We achieved dignity and the freedom to associate, which was previously denied.”
Nov 12, 2024
Drivers in Cebu, Philippines, are staying strong as Foodpanda challenges a ruling by a government agency that determined they are employees of the corporation and must receive around $128,000 in lost wages.
Foodpanda is appealing the decision the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) issued in September that required the company to reinstate a 2018–2020 compensation plan that cut driver’s pay by more than half. The ruling also stated that “with no ability to negotiate or alter their fees, riders are more like employees receiving a standard wage rate than independent contractors.”
Foodpanda is challenging a court ruling determining drivers in Cebu are employees who must receive decent pay, safety and health protections and health care.
Credit: Solidarity Center / Miguel Antivola
As with other app-based rideshare and passenger delivery corporations around the world, Foodpanda seeks to classify workers as independent contractors to avoid labor laws requiring pay, safety and health protections, and health care.
“For the five years I’ve worked for Foodpanda, they haven’t offered any type of leave or financial support for medicine,” said Abraham Monticalbo, Jr. The RIDERS-SENTRO (National Union of Food Delivery Riders) member described his experiences working for a company that is not required to adhere to labor protections: “We only get paid when we get an order. If you don’t get bookings, you don’t get paid.”
Foodpanda’s appeal “is just a small amount for the company, yet they’re being stingy with the riders. It’s clear that they don’t really care about our well-being,” Monticalbo said at a union press conference.
Seeking Fairness on the Job
The NLRC ruling on Foodpanda and Delivery Hero Logistics Philippines, Inc., would mean “we can finally receive our earnings that should have long benefited our families and ourselves,” Monticalbo said. “Because of our win, we receive justice.”
The Cebu Foodpanda union chapter of RIDERS-SENTRO has sought fair wages and transparency in the Foodpanda app on scheduling, compensation and suspension. In April, more than 200 Filipino app-based delivery riders took part in a unity ride around Cebu province to protest wage theft.
The Foodpanda app–via the company–sets the rules and is unaccountable to drivers, unilaterally updating acceptance rates, special hours and more. “If you are suddenly tagged for suspension and you follow due process in the app as we were instructed, you will get suspended before they take any action,” said Monticalbo. “Even if you do it right, the suspension is still ongoing. We can’t do anything about it since the tag is still in the system.”
Like Foodpanda, many app-based companies often deploy a “bait-and-switch” tactic, offering benefits to riders only to change the terms later.
“Management treated us well before. If I can compare it to what’s happening now, it’s so far off,” said Monticalbo. Drivers still do their job “because they already left their previous jobs. If they don’t deliver, they don’t earn.”
After the ruling supporting drivers, RIDERS-SENTRO invited the company to enter into discussions for a collective bargaining agreement. With a union, said Monticalbo, the riders are confident of their ability to win their rights on the job even with Foodpanda’s appeal
“Because of the union, we have the fighting spirit for this. We realize our power, our rights.”
Nov 4, 2024
Imagine frequently working more than 11 hours a day—or even up to 16 hours a day—to earn a living. Those hours are what nearly all (93 percent) app-based passenger and delivery drivers say they must work to support themselves and their families in Sri Lanka, according to a new Solidarity Center report.
With 100 Sinhalese and Tamil platform workers surveyed in Colombo, the Sri Lanka capital, and several interviewed, Low Pay, No Support: Delivery Drivers Fight for Worker Rights, examines the struggles of app-based workers who are not covered by hard-won labor laws that mandate a minimum wage, social protections and the right to join or form a union and bargain collectively.
“The money I earn each day is just enough to cover that day’s expenses; most of it goes toward petrol and other vehicle expenses,” says Abdul Illias, who drives passengers for PickMe and Uber. “It’s not sufficient to save for tomorrow, so we must continue working daily to manage for the next day,” says Illias, a 50-year-old father of three who drives passengers (names were changed to protect workers’ privacy).
While the rapid increase in app-based jobs around the world offers millions of workers additional avenues to earn money, it also creates new opportunities for employer exploitation through low wages, lack of health care and an absence of job safety. The new report identifies these challenges and seeks to ensure platform workers receive decent work.
When the Boss Is an App
With increasing growth in the informal economy, unions, employers and the government should engage in dialogue to ensure worker rights are protected and the countries benefit from the platform economy, Credit: Solidarity Center
None of the drivers or deliverers surveyed or interviewed receive vacation or sick pay. They work long hours and rush between deliveries, risking their safety, because if they do not, the app—via the company—punishes them by lowering pay. When drivers or deliverers are injured, they receive no compensation from their employers and often do not even receive a phone call.
Ayomi, a 38-year-old bicycle delivery driver for Uber Eats, describes the hardships.
“We are on the roads for 10–12 hours a day, and we have no support if we get into accidents,” she says. “In December last year, I had an accident where both my hands were broken. I was bedridden for nearly six months. The company did nothing. The company expects us to be admitted to a private hospital for treatment to receive a larger [insurance] payout, but we can’t do that; we don’t have that kind of money.”
The report also shows how workers are “managed” by algorithmic platforms that determine how they get paid and reported that they sometimes get cheated out of hard-earned wages, as app-based companies reel in workers and then change the rules.
“There is a difference between the actual distance and what the app indicates,” says Jayasinghe Lanka, 52, a seven-year Uber driver.
“I’ve observed that Uber reduces 100 meters for every kilometer. So, when we travel 10 kilometers, it automatically reduces it by one kilometer and shows it as nine kilometers. I joined Uber when it first started in Sri Lanka. They painted a picture of paradise for us. Now, they are exploiting Uber drivers.”
Women passenger and delivery drivers experience even more difficulty, says Chiththara, 41, who supports her mother with her pay as an Uber Eats delivery driver.
“We face health and safety issues, and when we wait for orders, we don’t have a proper facility nearby for sanitary needs. We work during the night, and even though they know a woman will pick up the order, [the app] still sends us to faraway areas. The app selecting main roads instead of smaller ones would improve our safety. They should be more mindful of the roads they choose.”
Delivery and passenger drivers in Sri Lanka are now joining together to form a union—and demand change.
Building Union Strength for Decent Work
Charith Attanapola, who is organizing app-based platform workers in Sri Lanka, says drivers are “working to build strong collective bargaining power to negotiate better terms and conditions.” A key part of drivers’ campaign for fairness is addressing arbitrary and unfair algorithms. Delivery workers suffer from bans from the app, without the right to defend themselves. Among many goals, Attanapola says the union, now with 350 members, plans to advocate and negotiate transparent and fair pricing mechanisms and fair revenue-sharing models.
Attanapola and others members seek to register their union under the name Sri Lanka App Workers Unions and to negotiate contracts that establish reasonable work hours and breaks that protect workers’ health and safety, guard against exploitation and enable app-based taxi drivers and delivery workers to earn decent wages without unreasonably long hours.
“We also will advocate for safe and healthy working conditions, including measures to prevent workplace injuries and harassment,” he said. The union looks to provide solutions “for minimal to zero resting places and sanitation facilities in major cities around Sri Lanka.”
As in countries elsewhere, Sri Lanka’s app-based taxi drivers and delivery workers are classified as freelancers or self-employed workers, an independent worker status outside labor regulation.
App-based workers are seeking coverage by the same labor regulations as protect those in the formal sector, including wage rates, workplace safety and health standards and health coverage.
“I think the government should intervene in this sector and establish regulations. Otherwise,
companies like Uber and PickMe will always benefit while we get nothing,” says P. Karunaratna, a driver with Uber and Pick Me.
With increasing growth in the informal economy, unions, employers and the government should engage in dialogue to ensure worker rights are protected and the countries benefit from the platform economy,
Championing worker rights in Colombo and beyond requires workers joining together, Attanapola says.
“We encourage app workers “to join the trade union and participate actively in its activities, like advocating for safe and healthy working conditions.”
Oct 31, 2024
In a legal attempt to transform traditional gender roles and relieve unequal care burdens on women, South Africa’s Constitutional Court this week is taking up a case challenging sections of the country’s employment act that permit four months of maternity leave to biological mothers only. By comparison, fathers are only entitled to a 10-day paternity leave. If affirmed, the case will transform how maternity and parental leave is granted in South Africa and set an important precedent for the entire continent.
“Although we do anticipate the Constitutional Court confirming the judgment,” says Ziona Tanzer, Solidarity Center law program counsel, “how it does so and what it says about gender, the redistribution of care work and feminist labor law will be significant.”
Based on constitutional rights of non-discrimination and dignity, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ruled last year that working parents must both have the right to time off after the birth of a baby or adopting a child, and can share four months of paid maternity leave made available to women under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA). The High Court judge recognized that current provisions of the law do not permit families to autonomously determine who performs infant care work or equally share responsibilities between parents.
Although the High Court issued an interim order, the judgment must be affirmed by the Constitutional Court–a necessary requirement for all cases concerning the constitutionality of laws. The Constitutional Court could make the lower court’s order of unconstitutionality immediately applicable, which means the law will change from the date of the judgment, or it can give the South African legislature one or two years to amend the law.
The lower court also found that provisions in the BCEA unfairly and unconstitutionally discriminate against fathers and parents of children adopted or born via surrogacy. Pointing to an unequal care burden on women, the presiding judge said that although it is not discriminatory to grant leave to a birth mother, the real question underlying the act is a policy choice with respect to child nurture, which could be done by either parent.
Bringing international and comparative law–which is increasingly recognizing the common responsibility and rights of both parents to contribute to the raising of children–to the court, South Africa-based Labor Research Services, the Solidarity Center, the Solidarity Center’s International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) Network and the University of Pretoria’s Center for Human Rights together submitted “friends of the court,” or amici arguments. The amicus arguments focus on the gendered underpinnings of the BCEA. In its premise that mothers are primarily responsible for child care while fathers’ care responsibilities are secondary, the BCEA not only forces an unequal care burden on mothers, it also unfairly and unconstitutionally discriminates against fathers and non-traditional families, such as parents of adopted children or those born via surrogacy. The attorney representing the amicus is ILAW member Kayan Leung, from Lawyers for Human Rights.
Paid leave for fathers in many African countries remains below three weeks; some only allow for a few days.
The ILAW Network is a membership organization for union and worker rights’ lawyers. Its core mission is to bring together legal practitioners and scholars in an exchange of ideas and information to best represent the rights and interests of workers and their organizations.
Oct 31, 2024
Central Asian workers who migrate for good paying jobs are navigating a rapidly changing environment due to shifts in economic options and political instability. At the same time, a growing number of women and young migrant workers, who face particular vulnerabilities, are increasingly seeking to migrate. Safeguarding worker rights amid changing migration flows is a challenge best addressed when stakeholders from the region join together to develop and coordinate safe migration strategies, according to panelists at a Solidarity Center webinar this week.
Migrant workers in Central Asia seek good jobs to support themselves and their families. Credit: Solidarity Center
“We really feel the need of cooperation with destination countries to find more systematic ways of organizing these workers,” said Edwin Atema, leader of the Road Transport Due Diligence Foundation. “Because, on a daily basis, our staff is saving the lives of workers.” Atema was among eight participants and Solidarity Center partners in the webinar, moderated by Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau and including Kelly Faye Rodriguez, U.S. Department of State special representative for international labor affairs.
“Regional government dialogue is a key and it’s very important since now not only Kazakhstan, but Kyrgyzstan also become the only country of origin, but also country of destination,” said Evgeniya Li, Solidarity Center program coordinator. “The main steps that should be taken in the future are facilitating cooperation, addressing labor market needs, and improving migrants’ rights.”
Workers Migrate for Decent Jobs
Based on a research sample of 1,031 migrant workers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, research by the Solidarity Center found that Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are primarily origin countries, with Kazakhstan becoming an increasingly popular destination country. Overall, 58 percent of those interviewed say they migrated because of low wages in home countries, and 31 percent because of the lack of jobs and unemployment.
While Russia long was a destination country for migrant workers from Central Asia, the number of workers migrating there has decreased following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the country’s decreased economic opportunities. The survey found migrant workers are now choosing Kazakhstan (28 percent), Türkiye (27 percent), Germany (21 percent) and South Korea (16 percent).
As in many countries, Central Asian migrant workers are found in a variety of jobs, including construction, agriculture, trade, transportation, public catering and much more.
Low Pay, Poor Conditions and Growing Numbers of Women, Young People
“Overtime was not paid; we were paid just the regular salary. If I got sick, it was my problem; the employer didn’t cover it. You had to pay for treatment yourself,” said one worker from Uzbekistan who was surveyed in the report. The 30-year-old cook had spent seven years as a migrant worker and describes a common experience, in which migrant workers receive no overtime payment or sick leave and often endure discrimination and gender-based harassment and violence, said Lola Abdukadyrova, Solidarity Center regional director in Kyrgyzstan.
“Twenty-nine percent of respondents’ households are on the verge of poverty, they do not always have enough money for food,” she said of Kyrgyzstan. For migrants from Uzbekistan, “45 percent of respondents’ households are on the verge of poverty,” said Nodira Karimova, director of the Republican Social Information Center Istiqbolli Avlod.
“They have enough money only for food. Salary is not paid regularly,” said Abdukadyrova. “The workload increases without a salary increase. And they’re working irregular hours. Employers do not provide a safe workplace.”
Gulnara Derbisheva, director of Insan-Leilek, an NGO advocating for migrant worker rights, discussed how women are especially at risk, facing gender-based violence and harassment, an increase that Li said necessitates “targeted policies and programs to support women’s formal employment and provide access to legal aid.”
Panelists saw a video describing efforts by the Solidarity Center in Kyrgyzstan to support pre-migration training and labor rights training,
In a video describing efforts by the Solidarity Center in Kyrgyzstan to support pre-migration training and labor rights training, some 10,000 applicants sought visas for South Korea and the United Kingdom. Showing the video to participants, “you can see the portrait of the Kyrgyz labor migrant right now that is still very young,” said Abdukadyrova. When workers line up to apply for migration, “registration closes in five minutes. Increasingly, young people are looking for jobs outside the country.”
“Ensuring migrant workers are protected by contracts and knowing they have labor rights is essential,” says Derbisheva, “especially as workers in informal economy jobs such as domestic work and taxi driving increase.” The survey shows most migrants from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (76 percent) do not have labor contracts, “making them even more vulnerable to labor rights violations,” said Abdukadyrova.
“The share of informal migrants is very high. There is a low level of awareness for labor rights and few have contracts,” said Derbisheva, whose organization campaigns to aid workers in forced labor and provide free legal assistance, such as recovering fees and unpaid salaries. “They are major stakeholders and we have to involve them.”
Going Forward
Credit: Solidarity Center
The first recommendation to address migration should involve “strengthening work prior to leaving their countries,” says Derbisheva. When workers choose to migrate, panelists emphasized the need for a fair recruitment process and departure training for both migrant workers and potential migrant workers that underlines core labor rights and government engagement with countries to establish mutual agreements.
“Kazakhstan has endorsed the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), and participates in various regional migration dialogues,” said Aleksandr Mukha, director of the Mangistau Regional Branch of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law. In another significant win for migrant worker rights organizations, Kyrgyzstan in August also issued the GCM with the goal of improving conditions for Kyrgyz citizens who travel abroad to earn their livelihoods.
The compact is the result of work by the Solidarity Center with its partners in Central Asia with the Migrant Workers Union, a network of nongovernmental organizations focused on migration, and relevant Kyrgyzstan state bodies.
“Migration long has been a critical issue for the Solidarity Center,” said Shawna Bader-Blau, panel moderator.
“In Central Asia, the Solidarity Center has been active since independence in helping to build democratic, worker-led organizations and to help ensure respect for fundamental worker rights. We operate programs in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan from our field office located in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek,” she said. “Our long-time focus on migration in the region brought about real successes including the organization of a Migrant Workers Union that brings together more than 10,000 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan for mutual protection of their rights.”
“We recognize that workers are all deserving of full respect of international labor standards without exception, including the freedom to form unions and collectively bargain regardless of immigration status, nationality, race, gender or sector of the economy,” she said.
“With Solidarity Center’s already deep contacts, all of our partners mentioned that in Central Asia we need to have this wide informational campaign, provide legal assistance, develop policies targeted to women migrants, mandatory pre-migration trainings, encourage migrant organization development and promote union membership and collective organization among migrant workers,” said Li
Presentations from the webinar, “Exploring Migration Trends in Central Asia: A Comprehensive Analysis of Changing Migration Flows and New Labor Markets in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan,” along with an executive summary and infographic of the research conducted, are available on the Solidarity Center website. The full reports—one for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan—will be available on the Solidarity Center website next month.
Oct 28, 2024
More than 200 International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW) members gathered in Casablanca, Morocco, October 9 to 11 at their 2024 Global Conference to share ideas and to collaborate on legal strategies to promote and defend worker rights.
The Solidarity Center established the ILAW Network in 2018 as a way for pro-labor lawyers worldwide to bring together legal practitioners and scholars in an exchange of ideas and information in order to best represent the rights and interests of workers and their organizations wherever they may be.
ILAW lawyers working together have taken legal strategies that are successful in one country and deploy them elsewhere. In doing so, they have set new legal precedents that build a stronger foundation for the expansion of worker rights around the globe.
Credit: Mosa’ab Elshamy
Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau welcomed attendees, describing the network of over 1,300 members in more than 90 countries as “uniquely situated to take on global corporations suppressing worker rights.”
She cited the successful advocacy of women labor lawyers for new International Labor Organization (ILO) treaties, like Convention 189 on domestic workers and Convention 190 on violence and harassment. She also noted the inclusion of a plenary on feminism and labor law in this year’s conference as an example of ILAW’s leadership driving the global labor movement agenda towards equity.
Solidarity Center Rule of Law Director and ILAW Network Chair Jeffrey Vogt laid out the conference’s purpose. “Around the world, the rights of workers and unions are under attack. Employers are well-resourced and coordinated in their efforts to shape law and policy. It is essential that workers and unions do the same. Through ILAW, we can learn from each other, build from successes and failures, and strengthen our impact through legal solidarity.”
Vogt also highlighted the importance of the feminism and labor law plenary: “The ILAW Network is a feminist network, and we are proud of that. Labor law needs to work for everyone. Having a labor law that is feminist is a way to make it work for everyone.”
Credit: Mosa’ab Elshamy
The importance of interconnectedness was woven throughout many plenary sessions and discussions. Networking, learning from and collaborating across countries and regions was a key part of the conference, as attendees talked about the commonalities of their work.
The opening plenary, moderated by Solidarity Center’s Rule of Law Deputy Director Monika Mehta, focused on the impact of technology in the world of work, including but not only digital platform workers, from Amazon warehouses workers to content moderators for major social media firms.
Panelist Liz Lenjo described the content moderators in Kenya who filed a lawsuit against Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads) and Sama, the local contractor, citing poor working conditions, union busting and inadequate mental health support.
These workers were hired to screen posts, videos and messages for Facebook and remove harmful or offensive content. Workers spent hours viewing violent and disturbing images and videos. They were left on their own to deal with the psychological trauma. In a landmark ruling, the Kenyan court determined it had jurisdiction over Meta.
Credit: Mosa’ab Elshamy
Sandra Muñoz discussed how women in Colombia’s parliament recently passed legislation to prohibit gender-based harassment in the workplace and linked the fight for gender equality to equality for all. “Unless we can overcome gender inequality,” Muñoz said, “we can’t overcome inequality as a whole.”
Kayan Leung also described successful litigation she undertook in South Africa to establish parity in paid parental leave in order that the responsibility of care does not default to women. The ILAW Network filed an amicus brief in that case.
During the panel on Just Transition, Angelica Maria Palacios Martinez spoke about the efforts to get Colombia’s government to recognize trade unions’ essential role in Just Transition and protecting the whole population. “From the trade union world, we have called out the government to recognize us as a key player, she said, “so that these public policies are focused on protecting the entire population, and in particular, protecting the workers.”
Abdullah Nahid of the Maldives, one of the countries most affected by climate change, described union efforts to support workers in the tourism and fisheries sector.
On the panel on the informal economy, Madhulika Tatigotla discussed the growth of the informal economy in India. India’s informal economy continues to grow, as the formal sector continues to informalize as, for example, 40 percent of factory workers are now on temporary contracts. Recently, workers and their legal advocates developed a comprehensive draft law for workers in the informal economy to extend labor rights and benefits.
In the final right to strike plenary, Paapa Danquah noted the increasing international threats to the right to strike, linking it to civil liberties. “The attack on the right to strike on the international level is the first step to taking away the right to strike everywhere,” Danquah said. “Whenever you see attacks on the right to strike, there are also attacks on collective bargaining and civil liberty.” He described how the ITUC was involved in litigation before the International Court of Justice to protect the right to strike as a principle of international law.
As the conference ended, attendees discussed priorities for the coming year, from more collaboration between all members to deepening national and regional labor law networks, cross-pollination between ILAW regions, increasing engagement with social movements and Indigenous communities in order to support union growth. Attendees left the conference energized and committed to forging a robust labor law network for a stronger global labor movement.
