Respect for the clearly enshrined international legal rights afforded to all workers is at the foundation of democratic, economic, and social development. Solidarity Center programs promote the use of international human rights treaty instruments in support of worker rights.
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| Download this Solidarity Center poster, featuring the slogan “Worker Rights Are Human Rights” in more than ten languages, including Polish and Creole. |
In an economic environment that prioritizes growth, ensuring human and worker rights is a major challenge. Strong trade unions must work to ensure that workers are able to exercise their full spectrum of rights, including International Labor Organization (ILO)
Core Labor Standards. Trade unions have the unique ability to raise awareness of worker rights in the workplace, and to represent their workers by advocating for their rights at the national policy level.
Rule of law is the principle that a government exercises its authority in accordance with clear, objective, publicly disclosed laws, adopted and enforced through established procedures and enshrined in internationally recognized standards. It is the foundation of a democratic society—the means by which people protect their liberty in a society of equals and the means by which workers protect their rights. All workers deserve decent jobs, where they are treated with respect and dignity and paid a living wage. Workers around the world are standing up for their rights and forming unions to make life better for themselves and their families. The Solidarity Center serves as a worldwide advocate for union activists, defending worker rights, administering training programs for organizing, sharing information with unionists, and providing support for struggling unions.
Egyptian Workers Honored with Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award. On August 3, 2010, the AFL-CIO awarded the 2009 Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award to the workers of Egypt. The award was received on behalf of Egyptian workers by Mr. Kamal Abbas, the Director of the Center for Trade Union and Worker Services (CTUWS) and Mr. Kamal Abu Eita, the President of the Real Estate Tax Authority Union (RETA) – the first independent union in Egypt in 50 years.
ILO Takes Big Step Toward Domestic Worker Rights. The International Labor Organization took a giant step forward in the fight to create workplace justice for millions of domestic workers around the world. At its International Labor Conference in Geneva, the ILO began the process to establish a first-ever international convention to protect the rights of domestic workers.
Learn more about the Solidarity Center's domestic workers programs.
In Key Address, Hillary Clinton Says Unions Are “Essential” to Democracy. “Without the work of civic activists and pluralistic political discourse, governments grow brittle and may even topple,” said the Secretary of State at the tenth anniversary meeting of the Community of Democracies in Krakow, Poland. “And without consumer advocates, unions, and social organizations that look out for the needs of societies' weakest members, markets can run wild and fail to generate broad-based prosperity.”
ITUC May Day Declaration, 2010: From the Crisis to Global Justice. On May 1, International Labor Day, the International Trade Union Confederation calls on governments to meet their obligations to govern in the interests of the people, put finance at the service of the real economy, create decent, sustainable jobs for all, and ensure that all employers respect the rights of working people. The ITUC represents 176 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 312 national affiliates, including the AFL-CIO.
Global Worker Rights Situation Getting Worse, Says ITUC. Although more than 80 percent of the 182 countries that belong to the International Labor Organization have ratified ILO conventions that protect workers’ right to form and join unions, hundreds of millions of workers worldwide are denied these rights, and many are killed for attempting to exercise them, says a new report by the International Trade Union Confederation.
Legal Clinic for Burmese Migrant Workers. Hundreds of thousands of Burmese migrant workers in Thai factories along the Thailand-Burma border are underpaid, overworked, attacked, and murdered. The Solidarity Center and the Thai bar association have opened a legal clinic to help protect these workers’ rights.
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