A study conducted by Insan-Leilek, a Kyrgyz migrant worker foundation, and the Trade Union of Migrants of the Kyrgyz Republic documents abuses suffered by many who migrate to Russia to earn their livelihoods as nannies, adult caregivers, cooks, cleaners and live-in...
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South Africa: Survey Flags Domestic Worker Human Rights Violations, Solutions
“The dignity of people’s very being is at stake,” said IZWI Domestic Worker Alliance’s founder and lead researcher Amy Tekie in opening remarks at a recent webinar focused on a new qualitative survey of human rights violations against live-in domestic workers in South...
Labor Leaders Stand Against Anti-Union Violence as Mexican Workers Vote for an Independent Union
Unions in Mexico and throughout Latin America are speaking out against anti-union violence in the wake of threats made against two women leading efforts to win a historic union election. Voting began yesterday and continues today at a pickup truck plant in Silao,...
The Persistence of Private Power: Sacrificing Rights for Wages (South Africa)
"The Persistence of Private Power: Sacrificing Rights for Wages," a qualitative survey of human rights violations against live-in domestic workers in South Africa, is co-published by IZWI Domestic Workers Alliance—a network of domestic workers in Johannesburg that...
Experts: Domestic Violence a Societal Hazard for Informal Workers
Informal workers are routinely excluded from economic and political decision-making, and their work is systematically devalued and made invisible. The COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified these dynamics and has resulted in skyrocketing rates of domestic violence,...
October 29 Global Day of Action: Invest in Care, Now!
Join workers and others across the globe on Friday, October 29 to campaign for investments in care for building more inclusive, accessible, resilient, and caring economies. The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need for adequate investment in equitable, quality...
Brazil Street Vendors Seek a Future of Decent Work, Respect
Millions of street vendors worldwide lost their livelihoods nearly overnight during the pandemic, unable to sell in open markets during lockdowns or unwilling to risk their health to do so. But street vendors in Brazil, through the National Union of Street Vendors...
Essential Workers Summit: Building a Just Future for All
Workers who risked their health to provide essential services during the pandemic joined with actors, global union leaders and policymakers in a first-of-its-kind worldwide gathering to share their experiences and demand a response that urgently and effectively...
Podcast: Myanmar Workers Stand Up for Democracy
After the military overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in February, the country’s garment workers, most of them young women, were the first to stand up to defend their right to a free and peaceful society. Since then, workers have led peaceful...
EVENT: Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in the World of Work
Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021 Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. EDT Place: Virtual. Registration is required. On June 25, 2021, International Labor Organization Convention 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based...
Colombia Workers Set for National Strike April 28
Workers and their unions in Colombia will hold a national strike April 28 to protest a tax hike proposed by President Iván Duque that would increase costs for workers already struggling from lost jobs and income from the COVID-19 pandemic. Union leaders say the tax...
Podcast: How Unions Meet COVID-19 Challenges—and Beyond
When the Nigerian government sought to raise taxes on basic goods and decrease subsidies on key items like fuel as millions of workers struggled without jobs or wages during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 4 million members of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) successfully...
Podcast: Making the Gig Economy Work for Workers
Like gig economy workers around the world, delivery drivers in Ukraine “have zero labor rights,” says worker rights attorney George Sandul. And, during the COVID-19 pandemic, “the drivers were on the front line of this struggle without any personal protective...
Podcast: Winning Rights for Migrant Workers During COVID-19
Migrant workers worldwide have been especially hard hit in the pandemic, suffering reduced pay, lost jobs and little access to social support programs like unemployment insurance. In Thailand, migrant rights groups estimate that since COVID-19, 700,000 workers are...
Podcast: Defending Democracy—Workers on the Front Lines
Democracy is under siege around the world with the subversion of democratic processes and outright coups—and attacks worker rights are a big part of authoritarian efforts to cut off civil liberties. On this week’s Solidarity Center Podcast, two worker advocates from...
Billions of Us, One Just Future: Solidarity Center Podcast Launches Today
“Violence and harassment happens to all workers, irrespective of your gender,” says Brenda Modise, a union activist in South Africa. “It doesn't matter whether they are men and women, old young LGBTQI community or anyone, but we are addressing violence and harassment...
Report: Freedom to Form Unions Key to Women’s Activism
Women activists and their organizations are the drivers of positive change worldwide—and the freedom to form unions and freely associate is key to their ability to do so, according to a report released today. “Celebrating Women in Civil Society and Activism,” prepared...
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
December 10, 2020 The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed December 10 as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention to “the peoples of the world” the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all...
Workers Band Together to Protect Kenya’s Market Vendors, Community
In a joint effort to protect market vendors and workers and reduce community spread of COVID-19, Kenya’s labor federation, Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-K), last week provided three of its affiliates with infection control supplies for distribution...
LEADERSHIP
Shawna Bader-Blau, Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau leads the Solidarity Center—the largest global worker rights organization based in the United States—and its 400-plus staff in headquarters and 35 field offices, and programs in more than 60 countries. Shawna...