Aug 9, 2024
Nearly a month into their strike for better pay and safer working conditions, workers at online gaming company Evolution Georgia say they face intimidation and physical violence as the company attempts to break their strike rather than continue contract negotiations. More than 4,000 of the company’s 8,000 workers have walked off the job since July 12, according to their union.
Workers presented 44 concerns to the company, which hosts live games from specially equipped studios in six buildings. Employees in the studios, including shufflers, dealers and game presenters, noted poor working conditions and safety and health problems, including ventilation issues, lack of temperature control and unsanitary toilets. Local media reports that workers suffer insect bites, and their chairs create spinal problems.
“I don’t want to suffer from diseases or bites while working at the company,” said striking worker Lana Dzagania. “I want to be compensated fairly for my work. We should feel comfortable and safe at work, which is why we are here to demand what belongs to us. We demand a decent salary.”
Workers Stage Sit-in, Company Threatens Mass Layoffs
On August 1, striking workers staged a sit-in at the company’s main office in Tbilisi, the Republic of Georgia’s capital. The workers pledged not to “physically obstruct” anyone from entering the building but said those wishing to do so would have to “step over” them. During the sit-in, several men appearing to be company security pushed workers away from the entrance, leading to a brief scuffle, though the protest remained largely nonviolent.
Evolution Georgia threatened, via Facebook, “to make operational changes,” including layoffs, to reduce its presence in Georgia. The company is a subsidiary of the Sweden-based global gaming giant, Evolution, which reported operating earnings of $534.3 million in the first quarter of this year.
Discriminatory Practices and Insulting Comments
Internal leaked chat messages from Evolution Georgia managers revealed insulting attitudes toward employees and discriminatory practices, such as team managers mocking employees for their appearance, weight or skin color. The union says it will investigate and expose these statements by managers, demanding that all managers making such comments be properly disciplined, including termination.
Striking Workers Receive Support
The striking workers enjoy broad support as citizens, artists, musicians and union representatives visit their tents, pitched near one of the company’s branches.
“It is our duty to support these people so that this problem does not affect us tomorrow,” said musician Erekle Deisadze, one of many supporters outside the union. “Otherwise, the problem will persist, and people will remain cheap labor in their own country while the company’s profits continue to increase year after year. That’s why I am here.”
The sectoral trade union LABOR, a Georgia Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) affiliate, is standing in solidarity with Evolution employees in their strike.
GTUC President Irakli Petriashvili visited and expressed solidarity with the striking workers. “This is not only your struggle; it is the struggle of all employees. I hope that all sectoral organizations and those involved in the labor market struggle will see this challenge as their own,” Petriashvili said.
AFL-CIO International Director Cathy Feingold expressed the solidarity of American trade unions with the Evolution Georgia strikers, stating, “The AFL-CIO calls on Evolution Georgia management to resolve this labor dispute immediately by meeting the workers’ demands for decent pay and working conditions. The bravery of the workers at Evolution Georgia inspires all of us who fight for workers’ rights and fuels our continued efforts to build global solidarity.”
Jul 26, 2024
More than 500 Philippine workers and trade unionists joined a march on July 22nd in Quezon City, demanding that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. declare support in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) for legislation that would further raise the minimum wage.
The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board approved a 35 PHP (approximately 0.60 US dollar) daily minimum wage hike for workers in the capital region earlier this month. This falls far short of the 150 PHP (about 3 US dollars) wage hike the National Wage Coalition has persistently called for to support workers’ economic recovery amid high inflation, poor job quality and a lack of new and decent jobs.
The Coalition, representing local workers across various industries and sectors, has remained steadfast in demanding livable wages and are advocating for multiple bills that have been introduced but still await action from the government.
The president has yet to engage in dialogue with Philippine Labor representatives and did not mention wages in his SONA.
Coalition member, Center of United and Progressive Workers (SENTRO), noted in an online statement, “[t]he [national government’s] absence of genuine effort to attain long-term solutions against rising costs and the provision of measly increases that leave workers running in place against inflation…” SENTRO added, “We deserve higher wages not simply because of our labor, but because we are human beings who have every right to live peacefully and decently.”
Jul 26, 2024
Trade agreements, including the sub-Saharan region’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), must create economic growth that benefits working people and their communities, said U.S. and African labor representatives at a labor stakeholder event and civil society and labor forum this week in Washington, D.C.
Labor and other civil society organizations met ahead of Thursday’s U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) 21st AGOA Forum, which solicits feedback from stakeholders in anticipation of the agreement’s renewal next year. Preparatory events included a labor stakeholders’ event hosted by the AFL-CIO and facilitated by the Solidarity Center, and a Civil Society and Labor Forum hosted by the Wilson Center.
AGOA LABOR STAKEHOLDERS’ EVENT
Welcoming presenters and participants to the U.S. “House of Labor,” which represents 14.5 million union members through AFL-CIO affiliation, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer and Solidarity Center Board Member Fred Redmond said labor is taking a united stand on worker-centered trade agreements and economic growth.
The AFL-CIO supports a renewed AGOA program that strengthens labor standards and includes effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.
“Your work here doesn’t just lift up workers in Africa: It lifts up workers all around the world,” said Redmond, adding that AGOA renewal is an opportunity for labor to promote “a new vision for an economic and trade agenda that spurs inclusive growth to benefit African workers for generations to come.
“The engine of growth should be decent work,” said Redmond.
AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer and Solidarity Center Board Member Fred Redmond welcomes African labor leaders and U.S. government representatives to discuss renewal of the AGOA trade agreement.
The International Labor Organization defines decent work as employment that provides living wages in workplaces that are safe and healthy, with fairness on the job and social protections for workers when they are sick, injured or retire.
“Trade is about people,” Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) General Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja told U.S. government agency representatives at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, DC.
NLC General Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja presents with COSATU President Zingiswa Losi.
Labor’s event provided a high-level forum for discussion on AGOA for African and American union leaders and their allies—including from Nigeria, South Africa and the International Trade Union Confederation-Africa (ITUC-Africa)—with senior representatives of multiple U.S. government agencies that included the U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID), the U.S. Department of State (USDOS) and USTR.
“We need to partner with people, governments, organizations, the labor movement, civil society around the world to manifest the next economic world order,” said USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai.
USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai makes opening remarks, following USDOS Special Representative for International Affairs Kelly Rodriguez (right).
During a panel discussion on the need for employment-centric trade agreements, labor representatives emphasized that the goal of economic growth and investment policies be good jobs.
“We want the engine of growth to be good, safe jobs—with protections where workers can exercise their fundamental rights,” said ITUC-Africa President Martha Tinny Molema.
ITUC-Africa President Martha Tinny Molema makes opening remarks.
“The new AGOA should support African countries to help them develop robust labor laws and enforcement mechanisms,” said ITUC-Africa Chief Economist Dr. Hod Anyigba, who held up the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMSA) as a starting point for a better trade agreement—including eligibility criteria.
ITUC-Africa Chief Economist Dr. Hod Anyigba with panel moderator Center for American Progress (CAP) President and former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard.
Representing U.S. union support, panel presenter Keturah Johnson, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International vice president, emphasized the need for global solidarity in demanding employer and government accountability.
“We are the workers. So we should be dictating what [trade agreement] criteria are,” said Johnson.
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International Vice President Keturah Johnson. Credit: Solidarity Center / Terrance Heath
AGOA CIVIL SOCIETY AND ORGANIZED LABOR FORUM
A panel representing African labor presents at an AGOA Civil Society and Labor Forum on July 24, 2024.
“We are a rich continent with poor people,” said COSATU President Zingiswa Losi at the July 24, 2024, Civil Society and Labor Forum. “Worker rights and collective bargaining must be [at] the center of all trade agreements.”
COSATU President Zingiswa Losi presents at the 2024 AGOA Civil Society and Organized Labor Forum in Washington, DC.
THE UNION SOLUTION
Labor recommendations for improving the AGOA were read aloud at the official AGOA Forum by ITUC-Africa President Martha Tinny Molema on July 25. Unions are demanding that the renewed AGOA include enhancements to advance workers’ rights as defined by ILO conventions, include a mechanism for input from workers and their unions across all aspects of the agreement and include a rapid response mechanism for independent verification of labor violations.
AGOA provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to U.S. markets for more than 1,800 products, with eligibility criteria that include making continual progress toward establishing the rule of law and enacting policies to reduce poverty, combat corruption, and protect human rights.
Photo credit: Solidarity Center / Terrance Heath
Jul 22, 2024
General Agricultural Workers’ Union of Ghana (GAWU) Deputy General Secretary Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe was recognized last month by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) for his role in advancing child and worker rights and for reducing child labor in Ghana’s agricultural industry.
“Where the union is present, child labor is absent,” Tagoe said about GAWU’s campaign to end child labor on Ghana’s cocoa farms.
Alarmed by increasing child labor in Ghana and Ivory Coast cocoa production, GAWU is addressing child labor in cocoa farming communities by applying a child-labor-reduction model honed in fishing communities on Lake Volta. The program raises awareness and incomes of parents so that kids can stay in school.
Although the cocoa industry’s biggest companies pledged to eradicate the “worst forms” of child labor in their supply chains nearly 20 years ago, up to 2 million children are estimated to be engaged in cocoa production in West Africa—primarily in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The two countries together supply roughly 60 percent of the world’s cocoa beans. As cocoa production in both countries has increased, so has child labor.
The profitable global chocolate market last year was worth $132.65 billion, with three major global chocolate brands together earning almost $4 billion in profits from chocolate sales while a fourth global brand’s confectionery profits totaled $2 billion. The four corporations on average paid out 97 percent of their total net profits to shareholders in 2023, reports Oxfam. Meanwhile, up to 58 percent of cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana were living below the World Bank extreme poverty line in 2021 and up to 90 percent did not earn a living income. According to the Child Labor Coalition, of which the Solidarity Center is a member, the cocoa industry must pay a living income while scaling up programs that identify child laborers and ensure that children can go to school.
”Building worker voice at local and national levels for farmers to benefit from higher cocoa prices and the profitable global chocolate industry will help end child labor, says GAWU.
Children in Ghana are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including in fishing and cocoa production, reported USDOL in 2022. More than half of children living in agricultural households in Ghana are reportedly engaged in child labor, most in at least one form of hazardous child labor.
By organizing and formalizing the agricultural economy in rural areas and working with communities to eliminate child labor, Tagoe has developed and implemented child labor free zones resulting in ‘withdrawal of thousands of children in rural communities from the worst forms of child labor,’ said Thea Lee, USDOL Deputy Secretary for International Affairs at the award ceremony.
“An Africa without child labor is possible,” Tagoe said in his acceptance speech.
Tagoe was co-recipient of the 2024 USDOL’s Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor with Egyptian civil society organization Wadi El Nil. The award honors its namesake, a Pakistani child sold into slavery at age four to work as a carpet weaver and who, after escaping at age 10, became an outspoken public advocate against child exploitation and died tragically at the age of 12.
Watch a Solidarity Center video about GAWU’s fight against child labor in cocoa production.
Jun 26, 2024
Five years after its adoption by the International Labor Organization (ILO)—a specialized agency of the United Nations—the first global binding treaty to address gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the world of work is yielding tangible results, addressing the fear of harassment and violence many workers face every day at work because of their gender.
The Violence and Harassment Convention, C190, calls on governments, employers and unions to work together to confront the root causes of GBVH, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, gender stereotypes and unequal gender-based power relationships.
Women trade unionists and feminist activists campaigned for more than a decade to make the adoption of C190 possible, led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Solidarity Center and other labor allies. Since C190’s adoption by governments, employers and worker representatives one year ago, unions have conducted extensive education and awareness training among members, a process that has mobilized members to confront GBVH at their workplaces through collective bargaining.
A June 20 virtual celebration, co-sponsored by the Solidarity Center, brought together 361 worker and women’s rights activists from around the world to report progress, discuss their plans to ensure C190 ratification and implementation, and envision the changes necessary to end GBVH in the world of work. The convention has been ratified by 44 countries.
THE POWER OF C190
C190 has been an “extremely valuable tool that legitimized the global problem of GBVH,” said Anannya Bhattacharjee, Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) international coordinator, including the Dindigul Agreement, said at the event. Signed with three global brands, the agreement is the first of its kind to address GBVH in the workplace in Asia and came about following the widely publicized rape and murder of a 20-year old woman garment worker by her supervisor following months of harassment.
One of the most important successes of a decade-long fight for adoption, ratification and implementation of C190 is its contribution to women’s leadership, said Fulya Pinar Ozcan, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Women’s Committee member and Women’s Committee at Öz İplik-İş-Turkiye president. ITUC represents 200 million workers in 168 countries.
“I want you to imagine waking up every morning in fear of going to work, knowing that you might face harassment or violence just because of your gender,” she said. “And now imagine a world where this fear doesn’t exist, where every woman feels safe, respected and valued.”
In this context, C190 is both a path to freedom from fear and a transformative opportunity to empower women to rise as leaders during the development of the C190 campaign, said Ozcan.
“C190 is more than a legal instrument. It is a beacon of hope,” she said.
Because its constitution grants constitutional status to all UN conventions, Mexico’s government could begin implementing C190 immediately, said Marta Ferreyra, Institute for Women in Mexico (INMUJERES) National Policy of Equality and Rights of Women director general.
And Christy Hoffman, UNI global union general secretary, said that unions are now integrating C190 text in agreements, among them UNI’s global agreement with French telephone company Orange, and many more national and local collective bargaining agreements point toward C190 descriptions of violence and harassment and remedies.
MORE WORK TO BE DONE
Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, U.S. ambassador-at-large for the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, told the audience that, “Violence and sexual harassment anywhere is a gross human rights violation and it must stop.”
Reporting back from this month’s ILO International Labor Conference event promoting decent work for care workers, International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) General Secretary Adriana Paz Ramirez outlined increased GBVH risks for domestic workers who are providing child and elder care in private homes. Risks are especially high for migrant women who are legally tied to a single employer, such as in Gulf countries under the kafala system.
Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery said addressing intersectionality in the uneven effects of GBVH in the world of work is key. He said, as addressed in his 2022 report on contemporary forms of slavery, it is clear that Indigenous, minority and migrant workers are “particularly at risk of abuse.”
Lopa Banerjee, UN Women Civil Society division director, said that governments’ implementation of all normative frameworks that support gender equality, including C190, are key, as is adequate resourcing of women’s feminist and labor justice movements and institutions.
“This is a moment to really strengthen the feminist movement–including the gender justice and labor justice movements,” she said.
A power shift sufficient to end GBVH in the world of work is predicated on recognition that the economy is political, said Ghada Abdel Tawab, Ford Foundation Future of Work(ers) International senior program officer. “Organizing and cross-movement building across labor and gender have been key in shifting power back to the worker,” she said, adding that “the state, the market and labor are intertwined.”
Fatime Christiane Ndiaye, ILO senior gender specialist and Decent Work Team-Dakar member; and Laura Nyirinkindi, Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls member and National Federation of Women Lawyers Africa regional vice president.
Event co-sponsors included AFWA, Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS), Feminist Alliance for Rights (FAR), Global Labor Justice (GLJ), Human Rights Watch, IDWF, ITUC, Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), Solidarity Center and UNI Global Union.
The celebration was moderated by human rights journalist for The Guardian Annie Kelly and Feminist Alliance for Rights (FAR) Transnational Lead Krishanti Dharmaraj, both of whom pointed to UN Women’s Beijing +30 (2025) gathering as a key opportunity for moving forward the expansion of women’s rights, including through the eradication of GBVH in the world of work.
Learn more about Solidarity Center and GBVH in the world of work here.
Jun 24, 2024
Marking the one-year anniversary of the murder of Bangladesh union leader Shahidul Islam, the Solidarity Center is demanding that the police investigation of his case be reopened to ensure that the main perpetrators of the crime are held accountable and that the persistent harassment and unfair labor practices committed against worker leaders in the country end.
A dedicated trade union organizer and leader of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), Shahidul was brutally attacked outside Prince Jacquard Sweaters Ltd. factory on June 25, 2023, in retaliation for his efforts to help workers claim their hard-earned, long overdue wages and benefits. He succumbed to his injuries in a local hospital.
Just 45 years old at the time of his death, Shahidul is survived by his wife, also a former union organizer, and two school-age children. He was the sole wage earner for his family. With bills, school fees and her cancer treatments to pay for, Shahidul’s wife is struggling to get by.
While police in February submitted a charge sheet to the Gazipur court accusing 14 individuals in the murder of Shahidul Islam, including one administrative management official from Prince Jacquard Sweaters Ltd., trial dates remain to be set and the investigation is ongoing. Though it is positive to see that police have established a clear link between factory management and the crime, labor rights groups and Shahidul’s family argue that the investigation did not go far enough and that higher-level company officials were likely involved.
“Shahidul Islam knew that without organizing rights, workers cannot collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions in far-flung supply chains,” said Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau. “Today as we honor the legacy and memory of Shahidul, we stand united with trade unions and labor rights advocates everywhere in demanding justice for him and protection for the many committed organizers, workers and trade union leaders like him working to shift power dynamics and build worker power in the Bangladesh garment sector—the changes that he died fighting for.”
She added, “There is no alternative to strengthening protections for trade unionists so that they can exercise their fundamental rights without fear of retaliation or violence. And despite the many obstacles, we hope that change is coming.”
The Way Forward
Because of brave organizers like Shahidul Islam, the Solidarity Center has documented the formation of at least 134 independent garment sector trade unions since 2015.
In light of the culture of impunity for worker rights violations that led to his untimely death, the Solidarity Center calls for accountability, justice and transformation. We also call on:
- Brands sourcing from Prince Jacquard Sweaters Ltd. factory to take responsibility for their contribution to the conditions that led to Shahidul Islam’s murder by providing financial compensation to Shahidul’s family. All brands, regardless of whether they were directly or indirectly sourcing from Prince Jacquard, should recognize that their own supply chains are vulnerable to such a horrific event and should take concrete steps to monitor for and take swift action to address wage theft and any violations of freedom of association that occur.
- The government of Bangladesh to ensure that workers’ right to freedom of association is upheld, as the free exercise of this right can safeguard workers and organizers from the kind of violence that killed Shahidul Islam. Concerted action in this area will demonstrate the government’s commitment to upholding fundamental labor rights.
