Publications
Exploiting Chinese Interns as Unprotected Industrial Labor (June 2014)
Earl V. Brown, Jr. & Kyle A. deCant
Solidarity Center Labor and Employment Counsel Earl Brown and co-author Kyle deCant examine the legal issues surrounding the growing numbers of China’s industrial interns, the latest class of “cheap” labor to be deployed in Chinese private industry.
NIGERIA: Empowering Women, Transforming Society (2014)
A unique grassroots coalition based in the Niger Delta, working with unions and other local non-governmental organizations, is providing a platform for women and young people to effectively engage in the democratic political process, hold local lawmakers accountable and achieve concrete goals in their communities.
The High Cost of Low Wages in Haiti Living Wage Estimate for Export Apparel Workers (April 2014)
Despite a 45 percent increase in apparel exports since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the women and men who sew T-shirts and jeans primarily destined for the U.S. market barely earn enough to pay for their lunch and transportation to work, a new Solidarity Center survey finds.
The High Cost of Low Wages in Haiti
Living Wage Estimate for Export Apparel Workers (April 2014)
Despite a 45 percent increase in apparel exports since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the women and men who sew T-shirts and jeans primarily destined for the U.S. market barely earn enough to pay for their lunch and transportation to work, a new Solidarity Center survey finds.
Asia Network: Empowering Workers, Creating Safe Workplaces
Millions of workers in Asia often risk their lives in unsafe and unhealthy workplaces. Through its network of more than 200 regional and national organizations in 14 Asian countries, including sector, national and global unions, ANROEV achieved concrete, worker-led successes in addressing occupational safety and health issues as diverse as silicosis, chemical poisoning and asbestos exposure. (2014)
Discrimination and Denationalization in the Dominican Republic
A September 2013 Dominican court ruling taking away citizenship from many migrants means they will be excluded from any activity that requires official identification, including working in the formal sector, attending school, opening a bank account, accessing health services, getting married, traveling or voting.
Labor Movement Responses to International Labor Migration in Sri Lanka
This report looks at the political and economic context within which Sri Lankan unions have attempted to respond to migrant workers, unions’ role in the key governance and policy mechanisms that pertain to labor migration, and the way the Sri Lankan labor movement responded to international migrant workers.
Restriction and Solidarity in the New South Africa
This report look at South African labor’s complicated engagement with migrant workers by examining the migration policy debate, labor’s response to the xenophobic attacks of 2008 and two organizing campaign in the agricultural sector. It sheds light on how labor migration and hostility toward immigrants are intertwined with the state’s embrace of neo-liberal economic policy and with growing labor precariousness.
Movements Wrestling and Emergent Solidarities: Labor Movement Responses to Migrant Workers
This report synthesizes a two-year project. Part one consisted of desk and case study research conducted by telephone in Jordan and the Dominican Republic looking into cases where unions had made significant changes in their approach to migrant worker organizing. Part two involved field studies in South Africa and Sri Lanka and provides analysis of strategies and results.
Domestic Workers and Socioeconomic Rights: A South African Case Study (2013)
This report explores the challenges of empowering domestic workers in South Africa through the traditional trade union focus on worker rights, democratic voice and collective action. This Solidarity Center report is part of a multiyear research project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, to study the informal economy, migration, gender and rule of law together with research partners Rutgers and WIEGO.