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Workers Rights Are Human Rights: Working People Exercise Freedom of Association

Workers Rights Are Human Rights: Working People Exercise Freedom of Association

Mar 12, 2017

In recent decades, the global economy has grown rapidly. But as global production has increased, so too has global inequality.

Inequality has skyrocketed.

Many governments have prioritized the interests of multinational corporations over those of workers–including fair wages, social protections and safe working conditions.

This approach has concentrated most of the wealth produced by millions of working people into the hands of only a few, and has made decent jobs increasingly precarious.

The Solidarity Center supports working people around the world as they stand together and fight for better wages and working conditions.

Learn more about how the Solidarity Center supports working people’s right to organize

Ratan, a tailor in a Bangladesh factory. Credit: Solidarity Center

WORKERS ORGANIZE TO SAVE LIVES

With millions of workers denied their rights and dignity on the job, the global economy is rife with exploitation.

But when workers are able to exercise their right to freedom of association by collectively finding solutions to unjust practices and other workplace issues by forming and joining unions, they can protect themselves and each other from exploitation, support their families and secure the benefits of their own hard work.

Credit: Solidarity Center/Lela Mepharishvili (top left)/Roberto Armocida (top right)/B.E. Diggs (bottom left)/Jeanne Hallacy (bottom right)

Workers may come from different parts of the world but fight for the same rights (as seen above).

Transport workers in Georgia formed a union to ensure their working conditions were safe. In Mexico, the Mineras de Acero (Women Mineworkers of Steel) help many women miners work safely.

Burmese migrant workers stand outside fish canning factories thinking about their options. In Liberia, workers and their unions played a crucial role in combating the spread of the Ebola virus.

WORKER RIGHTS = HUMAN RIGHTS

Our world and its globalized economy are changing at lightning pace, and it is critical that the tools we use to protect labor rights adapt just as quickly.

A first step towards that goal is to obliterate the antiquated and artificial distinction between labor rights and human rights.

Labor rights are human rights.

MAINA KIAI

Denying freedom of assembly and association isolates people in the workplace. On their own, workers often do not have enough leverage to negotiate with their employers and demand fair wages and safe working conditions for themselves and for their fellow workers.

Unions are helping to change that.

Members of several unions march for labor reforms in Nigeria on World Day for Decent Work. Credit: IndustriALL

WORKERS STAND TOGETHER

Despite many obstacles, millions of working people around the world are fighting to exercise their basic right to organize by creating and joining unions. In doing so, they gain access to many more rights on the job.

Maung Maung, president of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar (CTUM), speaks to over a hundred workers. Credit: Jeanne Hallacy

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF ALL

Many workers—including migrant, informal, domestic, and contract workers—find themselves in precarious situations because their work is not protected under national labor laws.

Unions strive to include these groups of workers in their negotiations with governments and employers to broaden and strengthen labor protections for everyone.

INFORMAL WORKERS

Contract workers in agriculture and workers in the informal economy, such as market vendors, have strengthened their collective voice through union activism.

Mr. Cristo Humberto, an african palm fruit collector posses for the camera with his mule inside the plantation of Palmas del Cesar oil CO. Minas, Colombia, April 25, 2016.

Joel De Los Santos sells his plantains in the Municipal Market of San Cristobal, July 28, 2014. SOLIDARITY CENTER /Ricardo Rojas.(DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Tags: BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT SOCIETY MARKET )

MIGRANT WORKERS

Migrant workers are often denied their freedoms of peaceful assembly and of association because of their irregular status in their new communities.

Many migrant workers also fear that if they stand up for their rights by themselves, they may be fired and lose their ability to stay in the country.

With freedom of association, migrant workers can stand up for better wages and working conditions without fear.

citizenship, Dominican Republic, Haiti, human rights, labor, Solidarity Center, worker rights

A construction worker in the Dominican Republic, where many workers are originally from Haiti. Credit: Solidarity Center/Ricardo Rojas

Many garment workers in Myanmar migrated from other parts of the country and from abroad. Credit: Solidarity Center/Tula Connell

DOMESTIC WORKERS

Domestic workers are often not recognized under national labor laws, which makes it difficult for them to exercise their assembly and association rights at work.

Domestic workers in many countries have made unprecedented strides in recent years in having their work legally recognized and securing their right to join unions.

Salome Molefe is a domestic worker and union organizer in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jemal Countess

Unions in Kenya are helping domestic workers negotiate and enforce contracts with their employers. Credit: Solidarity Center/Kate Holt

WORKING WOMEN

Restricting the rights of workers also fuels gender inequality. Women in the global economy are often relegated to low-paying, low-skill jobs. Many women also experience gender-based violence in the workplace that prevents them from speaking up.

Working women are finding strength in unions where they can advocate for better wages and working conditions together.

Dzidai Magada Mwarozva, Director of Human Resources at Phillips, now Destiny Electronics, a principle distributor of Phillips Electronics and Telecommunications products in Zimbabwe at the Phillips Facility in Harare on July 16, 2015.

A garment worker in Cambodia. Credit: Solidarity Center/Claudio Montesano Casillas

TAKING ACTION

By standing up for their dignity and rights together, and in challenging the systems that undermine those rights, working people find collective solutions to local problems–as well as create pathways for change for other workers, across industries, borders and cultures.

Unions in Cambodia rally for a living wage and the expansion of freedom of association. Credit: Solidarity Center/Tharo Khun

Brazil, domestic workers, AWID, Solidarity Center

Domestic workers at the 2016 Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Forum in Brazil. Credit: Solidarity Center/Tula Connell

CREATING CHANGE

When workers’ freedom of assembly and association rights are protected, the relationship with their employer is more fair.

Unions and worker associations provide a collective voice on the job, helping to correct abuses, improve workplace safety and raise wages.

CTUM President Maung Maung accepts a certificate of registration for the union federation. Credit: CTUM

ACHIEVING DECENT WORK

The freedom to assemble and associate is the foundation for worker rights–and for all other rights, as they enable people to voice their interests, protect their dignity and hold governments accountable.

Coca-Cola factory workers in the Hlaing Thay Yar industrial zone outside of Yangon have formed a union with the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar.

Garment workers in Cambodia. Credit: Solidarity Center/Claudio Montesano Casillas

PROMOTING FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

The Solidarity Center partners with workers and their unions around the world as they challenge restrictions on freedom of association and strive for greater equity in the global economy.

Solidarity Center, worker rights, trade union, labor, garment workers, Bangladesh

Workers in Bangladesh fight for the freedom of association on May Day 2016. Credit: Solidarity Center

In Peru, tens of thousands of mineworkers call for an end to laws that facilitate mass layoffs. Credit: Solidarity Center/Samantha Tate

BUILDING A BETTER TOMORROW

When working people can exercise their basic rights, together they can challenge a global system of poverty and exploitation and achieve a brighter future for themselves and for their children.

Demetrio, a palm worker on the Palmas del Espino plantation in Peru, with his daughter Emelia. Credit: Solidarity Center/Oscar Durand

ENGAGING IN INTERNATIONAL LAW TO PROMOTE CHANGE

National laws and company policies have contributed to inequality by systematically undermining the basic rights of the majority of the world’s workers. Most importantly, governments and corporations are denying workers their right to freedom of assembly and association, which prevents them from joining together to advocate for their rights, according to Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur for the rights to freedom of assembly and of association.

“So many workers toil long hours for low wages in unsafe and unhealthy environments, risking disease, injury and death. They work without basic social protections such as health care, education, pensions or, in the case of trafficked workers, the right to choose or leave employment.”

– MAINA KIAI, UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHTS TO FREEDOM OF PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY AND OF ASSOCIATION

 

ENGAGING IN INTERNATIONAL LAW TO PROMOTE CHANGE

National laws and company policies have contributed to inequality by systematically undermining the basic rights of the majority of the world’s workers. Most importantly, governments and corporations are denying workers their right to freedom of assembly and association, which prevents them from joining together to advocate for their rights, according to Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur for the rights to freedom of assembly and of association.

“So many workers toil long hours for low wages in unsafe and unhealthy environments, risking disease, injury and death. They work without basic social protections such as health care, education, pensions or, in the case of trafficked workers, the right to choose or leave employment.”

– MAINA KIAI, UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHTS TO FREEDOM OF PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY AND OF ASSOCIATION

 

UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai, Solidarity Center, unions, human rights

Maina Kiai presented his report to the United Nations in October 2016 in his capacity as Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Freedom of Association (May 2011 – April 2017). Credit: UN

To learn more about working people around the world and how the Solidarity Center supports their right to organize, visit www.solidaritycenter.org.

Migrant Workers in Africa: In Their Own Voices

Migrant Workers in Africa: In Their Own Voices

Jan 25, 2017

Some 34 million Africans are migrants, and the majority are workers moving across borders to search for decent work—jobs that pay a living wage, offer safe working conditions and fair treatment.

Yet even as they often leave their families in search of jobs that will support them, many migrant workers find that employers seek to exploit them—refusing to pay their wages, forcing them to work long hours for little or no pay, and even physically abusing them.

Throughout the January 25-27 Solidarity Center Fair Labor Migration conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, migrant domestic workers, farm workers and mine workers share their struggles, but also their courage and hope as many join together to form unions and associations to improve their lives at work. Here are their stories.

Fauzia Muthoni Wanjiru left Kenya after a labor broker told her she would work in Qatar as a receptionist. Instead, she was taken to Saudi Arabia, where she was forced to work 18 hours a day as a domestic worker cleaning two homes a day. Her passport was taken, trapping her in the country. “When you go there, you are a slave to them,” she says.

domestic workers, migrant workers, Solidarity Center, human rights, Zimbabwe

Praxedes moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa so her children would live a better life than she had. “There is nothing for me there (in Zimbabwe), she says. “A lot of employers take advantage of that.” She has worked for more than five years as a domestic worker, and employers have refused to pay her overtime, and shortchanged her pay—even as her transportation costs take up a third of her wages. “My cellphone has to be off at all times. I have three kids. If anything happens to them, I will not know.”

domestic workers, labor migration, migrant workers, Solidarity Center, human rights

Angela Mpofu migrated from Zimbabwe to support herself and her family as a domestic worker in South Africa. But like many migrant workers, she finds that she is treated poorly, as employers take advantage of her migrant status. Worse, says Mpofu, “the way (employers) treat us, it’s like we are not human beings. You’re nothing to them.”

South Africa, mine workers, Solidarity Center, human rights, occupational safety and health

As a migrant mine worker from Swaziland, Mduduzi Thabethe says he has fewer workplace rights than his South African co-workers. Although all mine workers pay the same amount into the health fund, migrant workers get inferior care and pensions are rare. “If you are a citizen of South Africa, you see you are building your country and you have something, but we have nothing.” His union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, is working to improve conditions for migrant workers.

 

South Africa, Solidarity Center, mine workers, migrant workers, human rights


When Joe Montisetse came to South Africa from Botswana to work in gold mines in the early 1980s, he saw a black pool of water deep in a mine that signified deadly methane. Yet after he brought up the issue to supervisors, they insisted he continue working, but Montisetse refused. Two co-workers were killed a few hours later when the methane exploded. Today, with the National Union of Mineworkers, Montisete, deputy president of the union, says workers are safer now. “We formed union as mine workers to defend against oppression and exploitiation,” says Montisetse.

South Africa, migrant farm workers, Solidarity Center

In 2000, Chris Muwani migrated from Zimbabwe to South Africa, where he works on a tomato farm. If he does not fulfill his daily quota, he is not paid for the day. Migrant farm workers like Muwani are exposed to dangerous workplace conditions and without a union, cannot exercise their rights. “We use a chemical to spray grass but you don’t have rubber boots or a respirator but you are working with poison,” says Muwani. “If you protest about safety conditions, many people are fired.”

South Africa, migrant farm workers, human rights

As a migrant farm worker from Mozambique, France Mnyike receives no health care coverage, even for workplace injuries. When Mnyike broke his leg at work, his employer did not provide medical aid and his leg remains fractured. Even if his workplace offered emergency care, says Mnyike, the employer would “deduct the cost from your salary.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make Every Job a Good Job

Make Every Job a Good Job

Jan 16, 2017

Around the world, workers, their unions and other associations are striving to promote the rights of working people at their jobs and in their everyday lives.

While every job has value, not all jobs are “good jobs.” Millions of jobs around the world do not offer the social protections or the sense of dignity that allow workers to enjoy the benefits of their own hard work.

The Solidarity Center works with unions and other allies to empower workers around the world to achieve decent work together.

WHAT MAKES A “GOOD JOB”?

In Thailand, Burmese migrant workers and their families learn about their rights on the job through training programs organized by the Human Rights Development Foundation (HRDF), a Solidarity Center ally.

But what are those rights? What makes a job a “good job”?

At the Pae Pla Pier in Mahachai, Thailand, Burmese dockworkers cart barrels of fish. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jeanne Hallacy

GOOD JOBS ARE SAFE

At the Gldani Metro Depot in Tbilisi, Georgia, employees work with dangerous chemicals and face constant danger from high voltage electrical wires. Their union, the Metro Workers’ Trade Union of Georgia (MWTUG), is addressing these safety and health risks with assistance from the Solidarity Center.

Tamaz Simonishvili, a repairman at the Gldani Metro Train Depot. Credit: Solidarity Center/Lela Mepharishvili

The Solidarity Center also partners with numerous unions and worker associations in Bangladesh to train garment workers in fire safety and other measures to improve their working conditions.

Participants in a fire safety training program at the East West Group in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Credit: Solidarity Center

GOOD JOBS PAY LIVING WAGES

At the Palmas del César palm oil extraction plant in Minas, Colombia, workers are represented by Solidarity Center union ally Sintrapalmas-Monterrey. The union organized subcontracted workers into its bargaining unit, significantly improving their wages, benefits and job conditions.

A worker loading nets into a cart at the Palmas del César palm oil extraction plant. Credit: Solidarity Center/Carlos Villalon

In Sri Lanka, where jobs are shifting from the industrial to service sector, workers like members of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Industry Employees’ Union (FBTIEU) are forming unions in the hotel and tourism sectors to ensure that the new jobs pay living wages and offer social benefits.

Hotel workers in Sri Lanka organizing. Credit: Solidarity Center/Pushpa Kumara

GOOD JOBS TAKE CARE OF WORKERS

The National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Allied Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSSRM, known as “Los Mineros”) has won many bargaining pacts that include significant economic benefits and essential safety and health protections for workers.

Ruth Rivera, a miner in Mexico’s Baja California Sur, is also a shop steward for her union. Credit: Solidarity Center/Roberto Armocida

Agricultural workers in Rustenburg, South Africa, are members of the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU), a Solidarity Center partner, which represents migrant farm workers in Mpumalanga Province and assists them in gaining access to health care and other services.

A FAWU member plants cabbage seedlings on a farm in Rustenburg, South Africa. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jemal Countess

GOOD JOBS GIVE WORKERS A BREAK

Across the Arab Gulf, more than 2.4 million migrant domestic workers often toil 12–20 hour days, six or seven days a week. Domestic workers in Jordan recently formed a worker rights network that advocates for better working conditions and includes migrant workers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan domestic workers in Jordan defend their rights. Credit: Solidarity Center/Francesca Ricciardone

The Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotel, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA), a Solidarity Center partner, has been at the forefront of championing the rights of domestic workers at the national level and working locally to organize workers into the union and educate them about their rights.

Lucy Nyangasi, 26, a domestic worker in Nairobi. Credit: Solidarity Center/Kate Holt

GOOD JOBS EMPOWER WOMEN

Dozens of journalists and media professionals have taken part in the Solidarity Center’s ongoing Gender Equity and Physical Safety training in Pakistan, identifying priority gender equality issues at their workplaces and in their unions, and outlining strategies for addressing those issues.

Journalists in Pakistan participate in Solidarity Center-sponsored gender equality workshops. Credit: Solidarity Center/Immad Ashraf

Through her union, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions Workers Union (PGFTU) and the Solidarity Center, kindergarten teacher Khadeja Othman says she has gained new skills in workshops, training courses and hands-on experience.

Khadeja Othman, a Palestinian kindergarten teacher in Ramallah’s Bet Our Al Tahta village. Credit: Solidarity Center/Alaa T. Badarneh

ORGANIZED WORKERS CREATE GOOD JOBS

Workers and their families on the Firestone rubber plantation used their union, the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), to negotiate work quotas that could be met without the need for children to assist their parents. Children also now receive free education as a result of union negotiations.

Opa Johnson, a rubber tapper on the Firestone rubber plantation. Credit: Solidarity Center/B.E. Diggs

Even self-employed workers have organized to defend their right to decent work. The Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA), a Solidarity Center partner, trains negotiators in collective bargaining with municipalities to provide adequate space for vendors and other informal workers throughout their cities.

Nyaradzo Tavariwisa makes and sells peanut butter to support her family. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jemal Countess

UNIONS HELP MAKE JOBS BETTER

Working people time and again have proven that when they are free to form and join unions and bargain for better working conditions, they can achieve decent work, improve their lives and benefit their families and communities.

In Peru, two unions, both Solidarity Center allies, represent palm workers on plantations and in processing factories. These unions have helped improve dangerous working conditions, access to healthcare and job stability through collective bargaining and labor inspections.

Peruvian palm oil workers travel across the plantation where they live and work. Credit: Solidarity Center/Oscar Durand

THE SOLIDARITY CENTER HELPS WORKING PEOPLE ATTAIN DECENT WORK

Decent work means employment that provides living wages in workplaces that are safe and healthy. Decent work is about fairness on the job and social protections for workers when they are sick, when they get injured or when they retire.

Fighting With Fire: Bangladesh Garment Workers Take Safety into Their Own Hands

Fighting With Fire: Bangladesh Garment Workers Take Safety into Their Own Hands

Apr 21, 2016

On April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factory building in Bangladesh collapsed, trapping thousands of workers and ultimately killing more than 1,130 garment workers in a preventable workplace disaster.

The tragedy came five months after a fire tore through Tazreen Fashions Ltd., killing more than 100 Bangladesh garment workers.

“Rana Plaza was a clarion call for deep, fundamental change in Bangladesh’s apparel sector.”

-U.S. AMBASSADOR TO BANGLADESH DAN MOZENA

The day before Rana Plaza collapsed, a structural engineer reported cracks in the building so dangerous, he recommended it be closed. Workers were afraid, but factory managers said if they did not show up the next day, their pay would be cut or they would be suspended.

NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO GO TO WORK AFRAID

Photo credit: Solidarity Center

Three years later, 176 union leaders have completed the Solidarity Center’s fire safety certification training program, putting 62 Bangladesh garment factories on a path towards safer working conditions. The Solidarity Center has held nine 10-week intensive training courses on fire and building safety.

Through the Fire and Building Safety course, garment workers, union leaders and factory management learn about fire and building safety codes and preventative measures, and practice steps to take in an emergency. Garment workers take part in hands-on training with fire extinguishers to gain experience and confidence.

Credit: Solidarity Center

Tahsin Khan, a mechanic at Aliza Fashion Limited, had taken a fire safety training years ago, but the course did not include hands-on practice and he says he was never confident enough to apply what he learned. The Solidarity Center course encouraged him and provided the practice he needs to potentially save lives at his workplace.

“We are now confident after the training that we can help factory management and other workers if there is any incident of fire in our factory.”

-MOSAMMAT DOLI, UNION LEADER (BGIWF)

Credit: Solidarity Center

The Solidarity Center also coaches workers on how to approach factory managers about safety concerns and how to train co-workers in proper fire prevention methods. Bilkish Begun says workers at her garment factory could not discuss implementing safety measures with their employer until they formed a union because they feared they would be fired. Now, Bilkish and other women working in her factory can take measures together to ensure their safety, like organizing a fire safety training with the Solidarity Center through their union.

“I used to be afraid of fire erupting in my factory, but after attending training, I feel that if we work together, we can reduce the risk of fire in our factory.”

-BILKISH BEGUM, SOMMILITO GARMENTS SRAMIK FEDERATION

Credit: Solidarity Center

Credit: Solidarity Center

WOMEN LEADERS: CERTIFIED

82 FEMALE UNION LEADERS | 20 FEMALE FEDERATION ORGANIZERS

Training women in fire and building safety is imperative because they make up approximately 80 percent of the workforce in Bangladesh’s garment sector. As women are taking on more active roles in their unions, the Solidarity Center is empowering female garment workers to share their knowledge and skills to ensure safe work environments for everyone. The female garment workers certified through the Solidarity Center Fire and Building Safety Training have gone on to train hundreds more.

344 WOMEN HAVE ATTENDED TRAINING WITH THEIR FACTORIES.

When Shilpi Akter attended training in her capacity as Women Affairs Secretary of Reliance Denim Industries Ltd., she learned that a cluttered or crowded production floor can obstruct passage in an emergency. Noticing that her factory’s production floor was blocked by cartons, she raised this issue to management, which fixed the problem after hearing from her.

Credit: Solidarity Center

TRAIN WORKERS, SAVE LIVES

By putting what they learned through the training course into practice, participants have already diverted potential disasters in their workplaces. After attending a fire safety training last August, Monir Hassain says he is now able to identify risks and is working to minimize those risks for workers.

EXCLUDING THE TAZREEN FACTORY FIRE, 34 WORKERS HAVE DIED AND MORE THAN 1,023 HAVE BEEN INJURED IN GARMENT FACTORY FIRES SINCE 2012, ACCORDING TO DATA COMPILED BY THE SOLIDARITY CENTER IN BANGLADESH.

When an electrical short-circuit caused a generator to explode at one garment factory, Osman, president of the factory union and Popi Akter, another union leader, quickly addressed the fire and calmed panicked workers using the skills they learned through the Solidarity Center fire training. They also worked with factory management to correct other safety issues, like blocked aisles and stairwells cramped with flammable material.

Credit: Solidarity Center

Credit: Solidarity Center

“People who worked at Tazreen and Rana Plaza had no training and had no union. This training is about making sure those things never happen again.”

-SAIFUL, UNION LEADER, RADISSON APPARELS

Credit: Solidarity Center

855 WORKERS TRAINED

“We need to know what to do and give workers the confidence to be leaders in their factories.”

-URMI, SOLIDARITY CENTER FIRE SAFETY TRAINING CERTIFIED

Credit: Solidarity Center

By working through their unions, garment workers can seek safe and healthy workplaces without fear of employer retaliation.

Yet fewer than 3 percent of 5,000 garment factories in Bangladesh have a union.

According to the International Labor Organization, 80 percent of Bangladeshi garment factories need to address fire and electrical safety standards.

Despite promises to improve conditions for garment workers following the Rana Plaza collapse, inspections show that by April 2016, half of all factories that pledged to reform have failed to implement sufficient fire safety measures.

Credit: Solidarity Center

To learn more about how Bangladesh garment workers are organizing for their right to safety, visit www.solidaritycenter.org .

Celebrating Workers: 2015 Year in Photos

Celebrating Workers: 2015 Year in Photos

Dec 30, 2015

Whether building a towering office building in downtown Zimbabwe, sewing garments in a Bangladesh factory or digging for phosphate in Mexico mines, the world’s unsung working people demonstrate, time and again, the dignity of work. Here, we celebrate some of the amazing women and men we partnered with in 2015, and showcase their efforts to improve their lives and livelihoods and tip the scales toward greater equality in their countries.

As Mervat Jumhawi, a former garment worker and union organizer working with the Solidarity Center in Jordan, described her own experience: “When I became member of the union, I became stronger.”

Burma, Myanmar, unions, factory workers, Solidarity Center

Thein Thein Aye, 23 and Khin Thit Lwin, 30, work at Shwe Mi Plastics Factory in Yangoon, where they are paid $135 per month. Both moved to the city from their villages, where jobs are scarce, and recently joined the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar, a long-time Solidarity Center ally. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jeanne Hallacy

Palestine, unions, kindergarten teacher, Solidarity Center

Khadeja Othman, 43, a mother of two, teaches kindergarten in Ramallah’s Bet Our Al Tahta village. Through her union, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), which is supported by the Solidarity Center, kindergarten and private school workers can learn new teaching skills and work together to improve their wages and working conditions. Credit: Solidarity Center/Alaa Salih

Republic of Georgia, bus, transportation workers, public employees, unions, Solidarity Center

Giorgi Adamashvili works outdoors as a bus mechanic in Tblisi, where he toils throughout the harsh Georgian winters. Seeking to address poor working conditions, he and his co-workers recently joined the transportation union, which has recruited hundreds of new members and founded several new local unions in the past year with Solidarity Center assistance. Credit: Solidarity Center/Lela Mepharishvili

Zimbabwe, construction workers, Solidarity Center

Stephen Manyoma works at the Hualong Construction Company Project, which is building the G-Tel Telecommunications office block in downtown Harare. Manyoma is a member of the Zimbabwe Construction and Allied Trades Workers Union (ZCTAWU). With Solidarity Center support, ZCTAWU offers members numerous skills-based training workshops covering contract negotiations, worker representation and more. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jemal Countess

Mexico, unions, Solidarity Center, mine workers, Los Mineros

Ruth Adriana Lopez Patiño, Los Mineros, Julia Quiñonez, CFO, and Mariela Sanchez Casas, Los Mineros, all founders of the “Mineras de Acero” (Women Miners of Steel) training program, participate in a tour of a gold mine during a training in February 2015 on gender equality and women’s leadership. Credit: Los Mineros

Palestine, unions, Solidarity Center

Abed Al Salam Qadah, 49, is from Marda village near Qalqilya city in Palestine’s West Bank and works as a plumber in Israel. Credit: Solidarity Center/Alaa Salih

Bangladesh, Rana Plaza, garment workers, Solidarity Center

On April 24, 2013, the multistory Rana Plaza factory collapsed, a preventable tragedy that killed more than 1,100 garment workers and injured thousands more. On the two-year anniversary in April, family members and friends gathered at the site of the building to commemorate their loss. Credit: Solidarity Center/Balmi Chisim

Zimbabwe, informal economy, Solidarity Center, unions

Prudence Chimbo, who operates Green Life Hardware at the Jambanja Market in Harare, Zimbabwe, is among informal economy workers joining together to improve their working conditions with the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA). With Solidarity Center support, ZCIEA trains workers in negotiation skills to advocate for issues such as adequate municipal space for vending. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jemal Countess

Bangladesh, garment workers, Solidarity Center

Workers at this garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, formed a union with the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF), a longtime Solidarity Center ally, enabling them to achieve safe workplaces and living wages. Credit: Solidarity Center/Balmi Chisim

Republic of Georgia, teachers, unions, public employees, Solidarity Center

Tamar Barisashvili, a language teacher at Public School #24 in Tbilisi, the capital, is a leader in her union, the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG), a Solidarity Center ally. Credit: Solidarity Center/Lela Mepharishvili

Indonesia, migration, human trafficking, Solidarity Center, migrants

Baria, a former migrant worker in Malaysia now working for Migrant Care in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Anis Hidayah, Migrant Care executive director, were among 200 participants at the Solidarity Center conference, Labor Migration: Who Benefits? Migrant Care co-sponsored the August event in Bogor, Indonesia. Credit: Solidarity Center/Kate Conradt

Zimbabwe, Solidarity Center, unions, electronics

Dzidzai Magada Mwarozva is Human Resources director at Destiny Electronics, principle distributor of Phillips electronics and telecommunications products in Zimbabwe. Workers at the plant, in the Msasa industrial area on Harare’s east side, are members of the National Union of Metal and Allied Industries in Zimbabwe (NUMAIZ), a Solidarity Center ally. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jemal Countess

Solidarity Center, Indonesia, migrant workers, South Africa

Wisborn Malaya, general secretary of Zimbabwe’s informal economy workers’ association ZCIEA, was among more than 200 participants from 45 countries at the Solidarity Center conference, Labor Migration: Who Benefits? The conference built on the Solidarity Center’s migrant worker rights programs in more than 20 countries, actively involving migrant worker advocates in strategic discussions. Credit: Solidarity Center/Kate Conradt

Georgia, bus, transporation workers, unions, public employees, Solidarity Center

Members of the Automobile Transport and Highway Workers’ National Trade Union of Georgia (ATHWTUG) have opportunities to take part in labor education seminars held by ATHWTUG and the Solidarity Center. ATHWTUG, an affiliate of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC), works with the Solidarity Center to enhance the capacity of the union and strengthen workers organizations. Credit: Solidarity Center/Lela Mepharishvili

Cambodia, Human Rights Day, unions, Solidarity Center

Workers in Cambodia, where the Solidarity Center allies with many unions and worker associations, turned out in events across the country to mark International Human Rights Day December 10. Although mass rallies are banned in Cambodia, workers there and around the globe marked the day by conveying a fundamental message: Worker rights are human rights. Credit: Solidarity House

Mexico, miners, unions, Solidarity Center, gender equality

Women miners in Mexico take a break during from mining and welding to participate in a workshop on collective bargaining focused on strategies that include gender equality and family-friendly contract language. Los Mineros members include Maria de los Angeles Nuñez de la Rosa (center), Alma Yadira Martinez Ramirez (top right) and Eliza Martinez Carrillo (top left). Credit: Los Mineros

Zimbabwe, informal economy, peanut butter, Solidarity Center, worker associations

Ennie Marufu, 90, works at her granddaughter’s project, Dovi World, selecting peanuts suitable for making peanut butter. Her granddaughter, Nyaradzo Tavarwisa, a member of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA), a Solidarity Center ally, assists other women and ZCIEA members in setting up their own peanut butter businesses. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jemal Countess

Bangladesh, fire safety, garment workers, Solidarity Center

Hundreds of garment worker union leaders have participated this year in the Solidarity Center’s 10-week fire safety certification course. “People who worked at Tazreen and Rana Plaza had no training and had no union,” says Saiful, who took part in a recent fire training. “This training is about making sure those things never happen again.” Credit: Solidarity Center/Balmi Chisim

Mexico, miners, gender equality, unions, Solidarity Center

Mine worker Ruth Rivera, 45, a single mother of three, has worked six years in phosphate mines in La Paz, a large commercial center in the Mexican coastal state of Baja Sur. Rivera was a founding member Mineras de Acero (Women Mineworkers of Steel), a leadership and gender equality training program jointly developed by the Solidarity Center, United Steelworkers (USW), Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (Border Committee of Workers, CFO) and her union, Los Mineros. Credit: Solidarity Center/Roberto Armocida

Burma, Myanmar, Coca-Cola, union, Solidarity Center

Coca-Cola factory workers in the Hlaing Thay Yar industrial zone outside of Yangon have formed a union with the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar, a longtime Solidarity Center ally. Credit: Solidarity Center/Jeanne Hallacy

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