In Honduras, where nearly all 19 union organizations in the garment sector have negotiated collective bargaining agreements that significantly boost wages and provide benefits like free transportation to and from work and educational funds for workers and their children, these successes were achieved “with active women’s participation and leadership,” says Eva Argueta, coordinator of organizing maquila workers for the General Workers Central (CGT) union confederation.
But ensuring women have the skills and opportunities to take active and leading roles in their unions has required 10 years of intensive training, with programs designed to fit women’s schedules that include up to 11 hours of factory work per day in addition to second full-time jobs at home, she says.
Argueta was one of three panelists who shared how union women are leading, building power and cultivating values of feminism, inclusion and equality in the April 2 online discussion, “Unions Leading the Creation of a Feminist World of Work.” Hosted by the Solidarity Center, the discussion was originally set to take place as a parallel event in conjunction with the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) last month in New York City. The panel, featuring Solidarity Center partners from Bahrain, Cambodia, Honduras and South Africa was rescheduled online when the conference was cancelled to prevent spread of COVID-19.
Across Bahrain, members of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GBFTU) are urging the government to ratify a new landmark International Labor Organization (ILO) treaty (Convention 190) addressing violence and harassment in the work of work, including sexual harassment and gender-based violence, says GBFTU Assistant General Secretary Suad Mohamed. C190 must be ratified by individual governments before it becomes effective.
Raising Awareness About the Right to Safe Workplaces
As in Bahrain, women and their union allies around the world are mobilizing to ratify ILO Convention 190, crafting a feminist world of work centered on achieving equality and inclusion for all workers and creating new models of leadership. In campaigning for ratification, union women leaders also are advocating for changes in law and policy to address and prevent gender-based violence and harassment.
But “Convention 190 cannot be successful without our extended efforts to raise awareness of all women in society” about their rights to workplaces free of violence and abuse, Mohamed said in the panel discussion.
Although Bahrain recently amended its labor law to penalize sexual harassment and abuse at the workplace, women in Bahrain fear reporting such incidents because their family may force them to leave their jobs and remain isolated at home. “We also are trying to raise awareness that a woman who is a victim of harassment is not the perpetrator, she is a victim. These are small steps we can take to actually reduce level of fear of women,” Mohamed said, speaking through a translator.
“Educating women to understand violence is not part of the job” also is a key focus in Cambodia, where many of the country’s 800,000 garment workers face bullying, sexual harassment and verbal and physical abuse on the job, said Sar Mora. Mora is full-time adviser to the Cambodia Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), the only female-led garment worker union in the country.
In Honduras, Argueta says raising awareness of women’s right to safe workplaces must be part of all labor trainings. “What we think is important is that any time there is a training it should mainstream women’s rights,” she said. With 342 women graduates who have gone on to take leadership roles in their unions and communities, “we are really satisfied with the success and growth of unions thanks to our very deep investment in women as leaders.”
The Solidarity Center has worked in close coordination with Argueta’s union federation, FESITRATEMASH, for more than 12 years, training organizers, building collective bargaining capacity, and educating workers on addressing worker rights violations through international bodies. The Solidarity Center also has supported FESITRATEMASH’s intensive women’s leadership courses since 2011, including mainstreaming women workers’ concerns in organizing, collective bargaining and union capacity building, and direct support for women organizers.
Also among the panelists, Gertrude Mtsweni, gender coordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), was unable to participate due to technical issues.
As the novel coronavirus spreads, unions and worker associations around the world are demanding safe and healthy conditions for workers who must remain on the job, and that they be compensated during forced work site closures and not laid off to ensure high returns for corporate shareholders.
The following is a small sample of union actions around the globe, reported in large part from Solidarity Center staff in close contact with union partners.
Labor Initiatives (LI) is providing legal assistance to workers by distributing COVID-related information through its phone line. Credit: LI
On Tuesday, December 17, the House of Representatives approved a spending package that increases annual funding for the National Endowment for Democracy from $180 million to $300 million. The Senate approved the measure on December 19 and it was signed into law by President Trump on Friday, December 20.
“We thank the Congress and welcome this robust endorsement of the NED’s mission of advancing democracy around the world,” said NED President Carl Gershman. “This work is more critical than ever before as we confront dangerous challenges to democracy, including the rise of authoritarian states like China and Russia that are undermining democratic norms and values around the world; as well as opportunities for progress in transitional countries like Ethiopia and Sudan.”
The NED is a bipartisan, non-governmental grant-making organization with the single mission of advancing democracy around the world. Governed by an independent board of directors, NED provides support to over 1,500 non-governmental organizations annually in more than 90 countries. These groups are working to protect and advance democratic values, institutions, and processes, including credible and fair elections, independent trade unions, a robust private sector, independent media, and groups that defend human rights and the rule of law. NED’s four core institutes share the expertise of America’s civil society with grassroots partners around the world who are working to build stable democratic societies.
“Congressional support for democracy assistance is a reflection of U.S. values and national interest – a fourth “d” alongside diplomacy, defense, and development,” said NDI President Derek Mitchell. “We are committed to ensuring sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars in support of democracy abroad, and to promote both a more peaceful, stable, and just world, and more prosperous and secure America.”
IRI President Daniel Twining noted that the American people have also shown support for the advance of democratic values abroad. “Polling shows the American public believes supporting political freedom in the world is the right thing to do. Investing in strengthening democratic leaders and institutions overseas enables our partners to push back against malign influence by authoritarian powers like China and Russia, reduces the conflict and lawlessness that drive mass migration, and creates a more safe, stable and prosperous world for Americans.”
The importance of supporting the values of freedom and democracy extends beyond elections, as the leaders of NED’s business and labor institutes remarked: “The global competitiveness of values and norms extends to the economic sector, with the surging influence of authoritarian capital in markets across the globe, which threatens the competitiveness of American firms,” said CIPE Executive Director Andrew Wilson.
Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau emphasized that, “democracy and the ability to exercise one’s basic human rights—including to demand a safer workplace or a more responsive government—are inextricably linked. As more people live in countries where inequality is on the rise and basic rights are eroding, the work to strengthen democracy everywhere is even more urgent.”
Gershman highlighted that NED grants provide critical financial and moral support: “When NED and its institutes provide sustained support for the innovative and often courageous efforts of activists on the frontlines of democratic change, it sends the important message of American solidarity with the struggles around the world for democracy and human rights. With increased resources, NED and its institutes will be able to further bolster the work of activists who are our natural allies, while also countering authoritarian countries that threaten our security and democratic way of life.”
Delegates to the International Trade Union Confederation–Africa (ITUC-Africa) last week passed a resolution drafted by women union leaders that will help the organization’s 101 affiliates address gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work, including pressing African governments to ratify International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 190.
Passed in June, Convention 190 is a new global treaty to prevent and address violence and harassment in the world of work that includes gender-based violence and harassment.
Delegates from more than 47 African countriesgathered in the Nigerian capital of Abuja for the 4th Ordinary Congress of the ITUC-Africa’s Regional Organization November 21 and 22. Held every four years, the Congress sets labor’s priorities and direction on behalf of Africa’s working people, both internally and in its dealings with governments and employers.
“The trade union movement in Africa has tremendous power to influence the future not only of the continent but the world,” said AFL-CIO Vice President Tefere Gebre, speaking to delegates.
Some 45 women leaders of unions from across the continent—many of whom have long been engaged in a global campaign to end gender-based violence and harassment at work—presented their recommendations to the full Congress, which the ITUC-Africa leadership formally adopted.
The resolution includes the following recommendations for African unions and ITUC-Africa:
Women trade union leaders participate in worker negotiations with employers, so gender-based violence and harassment at work is prioritized
Going forward, negotiated agreements with employers include language that explicitly addresses gender-based violence and harassment at work
ITUC-Africa provide support for union affiliates that are lobbying their governments to adopt Convention 190.
The Solidarity Center is deeply saddened by the death of our colleague and friend, Lyuba Frenkel, senior program officer for Europe and Central Asia, who succumbed July 30 after a brave battle with brain cancer.
Over Lyuba’s 26-year career with the Solidarity Center, she was instrumental in designing, supporting and monitoring projects that bolstered freedom of association throughout Eastern Europe, and for several years also in Southeast Asia. She built close cooperation with local partners, with a focus on collective bargaining, grievance representation, labor laws, trade union organizing, dispute resolution, migration and worker rights. Throughout her successful career, Lyuba never missed an opportunity to convince workers their lives can be better when they join in a union to fight for their interests together.
“A quiet person with a passion for the work, Lyuba helped thousands of workers understand and exercise their rights,” said Rudy Porter, Solidarity Center regional program director, Europe and Central Asia. “She will be deeply missed, both within the Solidarity Center and among the dozens of partner organizations around the globe with which she had such close ties.”
Lyuba was a tireless defender of those who suffered persecution because of their participation in independent unions, and almost daily sought new ways to push their cases to the forefront of public attention. And as a longtime advocate for women’s leadership to drive economic justice and social protection for all, Lyuba was an important catalyst for the Solidarity Center’s gender work today. She was especially involved in building union campaigns in Eastern Europe to end gender-based violence in the workplace.
“In her 26 years with the Solidarity Center, Lyuba stood firmly by people engaged in some of the world’s most consequential struggles for worker rights and human dignity. She did so with integrity and generosity, born of her deep commitment to justice. Lyuba was respected, liked and admired by everyone she worked with, and we will miss her,” said Shawna Bader-Blau, Solidarity Center executive director.
Lyuba is survived by her mother and daughter.
A graveside memorial service will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday, August 4, at the Garden of Remembrance Memorial Park, 14321 Comus Rd., Clarksburg, Maryland.
From Haiti to Kenya, Nepal and Palestine, hundreds of thousands of workers and their families celebrated International Workers Day last week, honoring the dignity of work and the accomplishments of the labor movement in defending human rights, job stability, fair wages and safe workplaces. Together, workers and their unions are demonstrating their commitment to sustaining and improving worker lives.
Click here for our photo essay of May Day 2019 events by Solidarity Center allies around the globe.
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