Guatemala
Guatemala has the lowest unionization rate of any country in Latin America, and brave worker activists who struggle to form unions in this adverse context are in many cases illegally fired, threatened, attacked and murdered. In this context, the Solidarity Center offers technical expertise to local partners who are pushing for robust enforcement of labor laws and for an end to the rampant impunity for the widespread human rights abuses committed against unionists. The Solidarity Center partners with national and local union bodies and rights activists to educate Guatemalan workers on their basic rights under domestic labor law and international labor standards, assist them in adjudicating labor rights violations, and help them improve their wages and working conditions through unionization campaigns. Our union allies in the agriculture, apparel and domestic work industries are developing the leadership capacity of traditionally marginalized workers, including women, indigenous and informal economy workers. We also work to develop public policy platforms that bring together all segments of Guatemala’s union movement to advocate reforms that benefit all workers. In addition, as Guatemala is currently one of the principal departure countries for migrant workers seeking better livelihoods in the United States, the Solidarity Center works with the Regional Inter-Union Committee for the Defense of Migrant Worker Rights (CI Regional) on a national and Central America-wide level to promote the rights of migrants through multi-stakeholder social dialogue and policy advocacy.

Media Contact

Kate Conradt
Communications Director
(+1) 202-974 -8369

 

Unions Protect Agricultural Workers’ Rights: Report

Where unions establish collective bargaining, they initiate the strongest mechanism for protecting agricultural workers’ rights, health and dignity according to a new report prepared for the Solidarity Center by researchers at Penn State’s Center for Global Workers’...

Fighting for Work with Dignity in the Fields: Agriculture Global Supply Chains in Morocco, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico

Where unions establish collective bargaining, they initiate the strongest mechanism for protecting agricultural workers’ rights, health and dignity. Through analysis of five agribusiness sectors—including palm oil in Colombia, bananas in Guatemala, strawberries in...

The Union Difference in Guatemala Banana Plantations

Unionized workers on Guatemala banana plantations earn more, work fewer hours, face less sexual harassment, and have safer workplaces, including during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Solidarity Center report. (The report also is available in Spanish.) “What...
Report: Death Threats Among Anti-Union Violence in Guatemala

Report: Death Threats Among Anti-Union Violence in Guatemala

Threats, including death threats, and intimidation were the most common forms of violence against union activists and workers seeking to form unions in Guatemala last year, according to a new report by the Network of Labor Rights Defenders of Guatemala (REDLG). (Read...

Union Women Rock 16 Days of Activism Against GBVH

Union Women Rock 16 Days of Activism Against GBVH

During the recent 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, workers and their unions from Honduras to Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria and Bangladesh made big gains raising awareness about gender-based violence and harassment at work (GBVH) and demanding that...

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