In Mombasa, Kenya, a labor broker offered Frank Wetindi a job in Dubai as a driver. Wetindi went into debt to pay the broker, but was given a job unloading planes in brutal heat, for a salary far less than he was promised. Living with eight men crammed in one room,...
The Solidarity Center’s principal partner is the Kenyan Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-Kenya). With COTU-Kenya and its member unions, the Solidarity Center works to empower women and youth in trade unions to better enable them to advocate for their rights as union members and negotiate for improved working conditions.
Solidarity Center’s programs in Kenya include support for legal recognition of the workplace rights of domestic workers, who as workers in the informal economy, are not covered by wage laws, or job safety and health rules. Many workers, including domestic workers, migrate to other countries in search of better job opportunities, and Solidarity Center partners with unions and allies to educate workers about the risks of exploitation if they travel abroad, and to provide a broad range of assistance as they return to Kenya from jobs abroad.
Kenya Union: Ban on Labor Recruiting Agencies Should Stay
The Central Organization of Trade Unions–Kenya (COTU-K) said the country’s recent decision to lift its ban on workers migrating to Qatar and Saudi Arabia for jobs is “ill advised,” and urges the government to keep the ban in place until the Ministry of Labor provides...
Brazil, Kenya Women Leaders on Front Line of Change
When Rose Omamo started work in 1988 as a mechanic in a vehicle assembly plant in Kenya, she was one of two women in a workplace dominated by hundreds of men. Her employer refused to recognize the women’s basic requests, and even her union, the Amalgamated Union of...