The Global Organizing Symposium, a daylong side event of the AFL-CIO Convention, brought together workers and activists from around the world to share experiences focused on building collective power for workers post-pandemic and highlighted their role in fighting authoritarianism and bolstering democracy. Sessions focused on platform worker rights, clean-energy models that both address climate change and work for workers and building an inclusive movement for gender and racial equality.
In the first session, panelists shared how gig workers in the platform economy are organizing globally to create decent work in a sector notorious for low-balling pay and denying rights and benefits.
As the pandemic took hold two years ago, app-based delivery workers in Mexico—like their counterparts around the world—encountered increasingly dangerous working conditions. When one worker was killed on the job and the company did nothing, they knew the only way to protect themselves and their livelihoods was to join in common cause.
The workers formed a colectivo they called Ni Un Repartidor Menos (Not One Delivery Worker Less) to address egregious and life-threatening job hazards, among them sexual harassment, violence, injuries fatal and less so, as well as unfair laws that have levied onerous taxes on wages and for the use of infrastructure, like sidewalks.
Saúl Gómez, founder of Ni Un Repartidor Menos, told a gathering of almost 300 union activists convened ahead of the AFL-CIO Convention for the Global Organizing Symposium last weekend that the app company cares little about the workers, and customers can act with impunity toward delivery people. Women workers, in particular, face inappropriate behavior and additional safety risks. For example, Gómez said it was not unusual for naked customers to receive deliveries. Even worse: One woman worker delivering to a residence in one of Mexico City’s toniest neighborhoods, Polanco, was held captive by the customer for nearly a week.
The customer suffered no consequences. The worker was fired when the company removed her from the app.
Defending Democracy and Hard-Won Rights
ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow discusses the erosion of democracy with Kassahun Follo Amenu from Ethiopia and Olesia Briazgunova from Ukraine. Credit: Jay Mallin
Speakers pointed to the erosion of democracy in their country and ways the labor movement is working to turn the tide. Nowhere is the conflict between authoritarianism and freedom more in the spotlight than Ukraine.
“We are paying a big price for independence,” said Olesia Briazgunova, international director of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine. Among the thousands of Ukrainians defending their country are union members, while other unionists are “dodging bullets and shelling to deliver humanitarian aid.
“At the same time, we are following situations in other countries like Myanmar, Belarus and Hong Kong, and every threat that spreads evil in the world.”
Tunisia, meanwhile, is going through an economic, financial, social and institutional crisis, and “conditions are deteriorating with the inability of the elite to develop democratic institutions,” said Hedia Arfaoui, deputy secretary general of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT). Youth are especially disillusioned, she added, with little hope for employment or a reduction in the poverty rate.
Many Tunisians are concerned that the democracy gains made following the 2011 revolution—especially those made by women, including full gender equality under a new constitution—will be dismantled. Tunisian President Kais Saied, who is currently ruling by decree, has said he will replace the 2014 constitution. Hundreds of thousands of UGTT members took part in a general strike June 16.
“Women’s rights are an integral part of the human rights system. And Tunisian women and trade unionists are aware of the danger of rollbacks of all they have won,” she said.
In Ethiopia, where politics are based on ethnic groups and a divisive war continues, the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU) promotes inclusion, peace and dialogue, said CETU President Kassahun Follo. As the largest multi-ethnic, civil society organization in the country, the union focuses on common goals, “uniting on workplace issues and labor rights,” he said. Since October 2021, CETU has organized 30,000 workers.
“There are no human rights, no labor rights without democracy. And today, fewer than 20 percent of people live in truly free countries,” highlighted Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation. “We can only ensure peace and democracy through social justice.”
Participants also expressed concern over the situation in Hong Kong and pledged support to working people and unions in Hong Kong who are under severe pressure.
Workers, Unions and Climate Change
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler engaged with participants at the AFL-CIO global side event. Credit: Jay Mallin
Lebogang Mulaisi, labor market policy coordinator of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), said that very early on, COSATU recognized that “climate issues are workers’ issues,” and COSATU’s work to bring about a just transition is based on three principles: distributed justice, procedural justice and restorative justice. The first ensures the benefits and burdens of what is a very disruptive process be distributed. Procedural justice means everyone affected is involved in determining the rules that guide the transition. And with restorative justice, vulnerable populations most affected by unemployment and inequality—among them women and youth—are both participants and beneficiaries.
“It will take strong unions to bring about a just transition,” she said.
In Brazil, efforts to move toward the use of renewable energy are a challenge not least because democracy there is under threat, said Quintino Severo, deputy international affairs secretary of CUT Brazil. “A great challenge is to make sure all the rights we have won are respected,” he said. “Clean energy isn’t clean if it’s tainted by the blood of workers.”
Highlights of the event included keynote speeches by Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president, and Uzra Zeya, U.S. under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights.
Cathy Feingold, AFL-CIO international director, moderated the symposium. Other speakers discussing organizing and democracy in the U.S. and European contexts were: Stuart Applebaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU); Roxanne Brown, international vice president, United Steelworkers; Stephen Cotton, general secretary, International Transport Workers Federation; Atle Høie, general secretary, IndustriALL; Zingiswa Losi, president, COSATU; Biju Mathew, president, International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers, Terrence Melvin, secretary-treasurer, New York State AFL-CIO; and Ashwini Sukthankar, director of global campaigns, Unite HERE.
Hundreds of thousands of public employees across Tunisia waged a one-day strike today after talks with the government failed to address the rising cost of living and sinking wages, even as it increases taxes and cuts social programs.
“The strike on June 16, 2022, is an opportunity for workers to affirm their unity, hold on to their rights, and defy the usurpation and threats, including unconstitutional and illegal burdens,” the Tunisia General Labor Union (UGTT) says in a statement.
At least 96 percent of public employees from 159 state institutions and public companies took part in the strike, according to the UGTT, which says the strike enabled workers “to express their anger at the deterioration of their working and economic conditions, the low wages and the threat to their livelihoods.” The UGTT, which represents nearly 1 million workers, says the government is “undermining the principle of negotiation and backtracking on previously agreed deals.”
Flights were cancelled as members of the Transport General union observed the strike. In Tunis, the capital, striking workers rallied at the UGTT building where they staged a sit-down strike, waving signs, “Do not neglect public institutions!” and “I love the country!” Members of organizations such as the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Democratic Women, and the Economic Forum turned out to support striking workers.
Government Bailout at Workers’ Expense
Tunisian workers rallied at the UGTT building during the one-day general strike. Credit: Montasar Akremi / UGTT
The government is seeking a $4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for cuts in food and energy subsidies, wage freezes and privatization of state-owned enterprises.
The UGTT has rejected proposed spending cuts and, with year-over-year inflation at 7.8 percent in May, is seeking wage increases for public-sector workers. UGTT also is demanding that state-owned companies, including electricity and fuel, not be privatized and wants the government to adhere to a December 2021 agreement in which it will negotiate with unions on policies affecting workers. UGTT also is calling for the immediate, case-by-case review and reform of public institutions.
“The current government is determined to make [workers] bear the consequences of its choices,” UGTT says, citing the current and previous governments’ failure to address its financial crisis.
Global union organizations are backing the UGTT in its efforts to end the impasse with the government, with the AFL-CIO, the European Trade Union Confederation, IndustriALL and others sending letters of support.
A powerful new report shows that collective bargaining changes work and workers’ lives for the better. According to the report, workers in Honduras with collective bargaining agreements are less likely to feel compelled to migrate or to face verbal abuse, and they earn more than workers without collective bargaining agreements. The Solidarity Center-supported report, “Bargaining for Decent Work and Beyond: Transforming Work and Lives Through Collective Bargaining Agreements in the Honduran Maquila Sector,” was published by the Center for Global Workers’ Rights.
“Collective bargaining ultimately is about transforming lives,” said Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau, who moderated a panel discussion launching the report. “Not only do better wages and working conditions result from collective bargaining, but workers report dignity and respect on the job for the first time through collective bargaining and unions.”
Report author Mark Anner, director of Pennsylvania State University Center for Global Workers’ Rights, highlighted some key findings of the report. He said:
Workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement are 25.3 percent less likely to feel compelled to migrate than workers without a collective bargaining agreement.
Honduran garment workers with a collective bargaining agreement are 67 percent more likely to always have the choice to work overtime or not.
Workers not covered by a collective bargaining agreement are 20.3 percent more likely to face verbal abuse.
Female workers without a collective bargaining agreement are 10.7 percent more likely to face sexual harassment on the job.
Workers with collective bargaining agreements earn 7 percent more than workers without collective bargaining agreements.
“Workers experience tangible and intangible benefits from having collective bargaining agreements,” Anner said. He quoted some workers as saying, “We are listened to now” and “Management shows us respect as workers.”
The report documents the expansion of collective bargaining agreements in the maquila sector, following a 2009 binding agreement between workers and a garment manufacturer. As of last year, 50,625 workers, mostly in the garment industry, were covered by 21 collective bargaining agreements in the Honduran export assembly sector.
Bader-Blau emphasized that the report shows the importance of worker-driven research, as suggested by the Solidary Center. “Unions lead and show outcomes to the rest of the world through the power of their own stories,” she said.
Union leaders like Eva Argueta, a leader in organizing tens of thousands of garment workers in Honduras, led the process of connecting with workers to help them share their work experiences.
Speaking on the panel, Argueta, representative for the General Workers Central (CGT, Honduras) and Maquila Organizing Project coordinator, described the process. “The person responding is much more likely to trust someone that they know who is doing the survey,” she said. “It can be a delicate thing because of the fear the boss might find out.”
Worker-leaders interviewed a total of 387 workers with and without collective bargaining agreements.
Other panelists included Joel López, general secretary of the Independent Federation of Workers of Honduras (FITH), Tara Mathur, field director for the Americas at the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), and María Elena Sabillón, Solidarity Center senior coordinator in Honduras.
As Sabillón shared in her remarks, “Collective bargaining agreements allow for real progress in both labor and human rights. CBAs today go beyond economic clauses. Unions are winning clauses on gender equality, combating gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work and respecting the dignity of each person. These CBAs are validating a broader rights-based approach.”
The Anna Lindh Memorial Fund in Stockholm awarded a special prize to the Trade Union Lifeline in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Lifeline is run by an informal group of primarily young trade union activists from key economic sectors such as railways, public service, food processing, delivery services and the platform or “gig” economy which aims to utilize union networks to quickly move humanitarian aid through the country to areas of emergency need.
The Solidarity Center and its Ukrainian partner, Labor Initiatives, are key participants in the Trade Union Lifeline, and the Solidarity Center’s Kyiv office is the main hub for its activities. Since the beginning of the war, the Lifeline has worked to link workers in key industries with charitable organizations and other civil society groups to move food, medical supplies, and other needed items to war-impacted communities. The LI’s Donbas office in Dobropillia has been a critical hub for this support and has helped thousands of refugees in the region find safety in other parts of Ukraine.
“The youth network Trade Union Lifeline has, through admirable relief efforts in Ukraine, shown proof of real union solidarity, not only for members but also broadly in Ukrainian society,” says Lena Hjelm-Wallén, chair of the Anna Lindh Memorial Fund.
The Anna Lindh Memorial Fund annually honors individuals and organizations that help others and strive for a more humane and just world. The Fund was created soon after the assassination of Anna Lindh, a Social Democratic politician whose two-decade career included service as a member of the country’s parliament, the Riksdag, Deputy Mayor of Stockholm, and Minister of Environment and Foreign Affairs.
The Fund’s $5,550 prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Stockholm on June 16.
Agreement, the Largest Wage-Theft Settlement at a Garment Factory, Follows Year-Long Advocacy by International Labor Rights Advocates
The Solidarity Center and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) announced today that more than 1,250 Thai workers who sewed bras for Victoria’s Secret, Lane Bryant, and Torrid—and who were fired in 2021 without their legally mandated severance—have received $8.3 million (281 million baht) in compensation. The groups credited the decision of Victoria’s Secret to finance the payments, via a loan arrangement with the workers’ former employer.
Sycamore Partners, the parent of Lane Bryant and Torrid, did not contribute.
“This is a huge victory for the workers and a testament to the courage of their union and the strength of the international solidarity campaign that supported them,” said David Welsh, Thailand country director of the Solidarity Center. “Low-wage garment workers left destitute by injustice meted out by global supply chains is nothing new. What’s new is they did not accept their fate—and won. We also hope this represents a model for the type of domestic, governmental, international and brand engagement to resolve future cases where garment workers are left in similarly desperate straits. It’s an historic case given the amount of the settlement and again, hopefully, a model for the global garment industry going forward in terms of direct brand involvement’.
The workers are represented by the Triumph International Union, affiliated with the Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand.
“Our organization has documented hundreds of cases of wage theft in the apparel supply chain,” said Scott Nova, Executive Director of the WRC. “This was the largest theft—and now the most back pay—we’ve ever seen at an individual garment factory. The $8.3 million provided by Victoria’s Secret is also the most any brand has ever contributed to help resolve a wage theft case.”
After the Brilliant Alliance factory closed in March 2021, the Thai government ordered its owner, Hong Kong-based Clover Group, to pay severance within 30 days. Clover refused, telling the factory’s 1,250 low-wage workers it had no money and they should agree to wait 10 years to be paid in full.
With the Solidarity Center’s support and advocacy, the union launched a campaign demanding their severance pay. The WRC and Solidarity Center engaged Victoria’s Secret and Sycamore, pressing them to ensure the workers were paid. The WRC identified other brands that did not use Brilliant Alliance, but had influence over Clover and over a key business partner, Brandix, a Sri Lankan apparel supplier: American Eagle Outfitters, Gap, and PVH. After months of efforts, including campaigning by Clean Clothes Campaign, Remake, and other nonprofit worker advocacy organizations participating in the global #PayYourWorkers coalition, Clover agreed to pay the workers and Victoria’s Secret committed to finance the payments, via a loan to Clover. Last week, all workers received their severance, plus over one million dollars in interest, per Thai law.
Sycamore Partners ignored entreaties and did nothing to support the workers.
“Many of the workers were at the factory for well over a decade and they earned very substantial severance,” said Welsh, noting that the average Brilliant Alliance worker received the equivalent of more than two years’ wages and some received as much as four years’ pay.
“The severance these workers earned was effectively their life’s savings,” said Nova, “stolen from them when they were fired and now restored.” He continued, “Victoria’s Secret should be very proud of what it has done here. The people who run Sycamore Partners should hang their heads in shame.”
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The Solidarity Center can arrange worker interviews upon request.
Notes:
While most garment-producing countries require severance, non-payment is a chronic problem in the apparel industry. For more information on severance theft, see Fired, Then Robbed: Fashion brands’ complicity in wage theft during Covid-19, available here.
Before closing Brilliant Alliance, Clover Group formed a partnership with Sri Lanka-based Brandix, one of the world’s largest clothing manufacturers. All of Clover’s factories were included in the new company, except Brilliant Alliance, allowing Clover and Brandix to profit from Clover’s assets and its ongoing brand relationships, while the Brilliant Alliance workers went unpaid.
Hundreds of civil society organizations, including trade unions and labor rights groups, along with the Solidarity Center and the WRC, have endorsed #PayYourWorkers, an effort to press apparel brands to join with unions to create a global severance guarantee fund, thereby putting an end to severance theft in the global apparel industry.
A far-reaching project by Poland’s largest union federation is providing comprehensive assistance to Ukrainian refugees to ensure they have fundamental rights on the job as they take on new employment in the country.
“When the war in Ukraine broke out and refugees started coming to Poland in huge numbers, we knew that we had to integrate them,” says Piotr Ostrowski, vice president of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ), which is spearheading the project.
“Trade unions must ensure decent working conditions for all: For youths and adults. For men and women. For locals and migrants. No matter what passport they have, what color their skin is, where they come from. Migrants must not be exploited.”
More than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, 75 percent of them women, have found jobs in Poland, an extraordinary number facilitated by a law Poland passed in March allowing Ukrainians entering the country after February 24 to secure employment without special permits.
Yet, like migrant workers around the world, they are vulnerable to exploitation, with some employers refusing to pay full wages or otherwise violating fundamental worker rights.
In March, OPZZ launched Unions Helping Refugees, staffed by lawyers and other experts who educate Ukrainian workers on their rights under Polish law and assist with cases involving unpaid wages or wages lower than the minimum, and offer legal review of employment contracts to ensure they are within the law. The Solidarity Center made a significant contribution toward the OPZZ services.
“In OPZZ, we knew that we had to act as soon as possible to provide refugees with information about their rights on the Polish labor market and where they could go if they had problems,” Ostrowski says.
The free service is available in person, by email or through a new info line. Most recently, OPZZ began offering free psychological consultations for war refugees.
All Refugees Must Be Treated Equally
“Our team of experts supports refugees in the workplace and helps migrant workers get fair working conditions,” reads a typical post on the Unions Helping Refugees Facebook page. “What do we do and how can we help?”
Through its Facebook page, billboards and posters in bus stations and other transit areas, Unions Helping Refugees is reaching out as widely as possible to connect with Ukrainian migrant workers. Union staff assisting the refugees say in addition to seeking jobs, Ukrainians are looking for information on social benefits and finding housing.
One of the biggest challenges—in addition to trying to assist so many Ukrainian refugees who come to Poland—is finding people who speak Ukrainian: “Many refugees do not speak Polish. Although Polish and Ukrainian are similar, they are two different languages,” Ostrowski says. “The alphabet is also different. In Poland, we use the Latin alphabet. So the main problem is reaching the refugees and the language barrier.”
OPZZ is undertaking this massive effort even as the union addresses issues affecting workers throughout Poland, like falling wages, an increase in precarious working conditions—especially for young people and migrants—and the proliferation of what Ostrowski says are “junk” contracts that do not protect worker rights.
Yet, the bottom line, says Ostrowski, is that all migrant workers and refugees have the same rights as everyone—and must be treated as such.
“While helping the Ukrainian refugees, we should not forget about other refugees,” he says.
“On the one hand, the Polish government is very open to refugees from Ukraine, but at the same time it is very brutal towards refugees from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. The Polish government is applying double standards based on xenophobia, islamophobia and racism. For OPZZ this is unacceptable. We are totally against it.”
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The Solidarity Center and its Ukrainian partner, Labor Initiatives, are key participants in the Trade Union Lifeline, and the Solidarity Center’s Kyiv office is the main hub for its activities. Since the beginning of the war, the Lifeline has worked to link workers in key industries with charitable organizations and other civil society groups to move food, medical supplies, and other needed items to war-impacted communities. The LI’s Donbas office in Dobropillia has been a critical hub for this support and has helped thousands of refugees in the region find safety in other parts of Ukraine.
“Our team of experts supports refugees in the workplace and helps migrant workers get fair working conditions,” reads a typical post on the