In the Americas, the Solidarity Center works with trade union partners throughout the region to build strong unions that can help workers fight corruption, promote the rule of law, and create democratic and just governance, ensuring that economic opportunity extends to all members of society.
 |
| A woman weeps over the coffin of a slain labor leader. Photo by Marcelo Salinas |
A legacy of political instability, armed conflicts, and flagrant human rights violations has impoverished workers in many Latin American and Caribbean countries. While the rich get richer, the poor fall deeper and deeper into debt. Large segments of the population lack the jobs, healthcare, education, and safety needed to improve their lives. A series of natural disasters, coupled with the global economic downturn, has exacerbated the crisis. In some countries, large portions of the population have begun to question their governments’ ability to deliver essential services and respond to basic human needs. Meanwhile, the murders of hundreds of union leaders remain unsolved as companies all over the region continue their illegal union-busting activities.
International Solidarity Key to Russell Athletic Victory. The
New York Times called it the “biggest victory by far” for United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and its collegiate anti-sweatshop campaign. In November 2009, Russell Athletic agreed to rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when the company closed their factory in an attempt to bust the union. Read a report by the Solidarity Center's Gladys Cisneros in
Stepping Up, Stepping Back: Women Activists "Talk Union" Across Generations.
Solidarity Center Opens Office in Peru. On May 12, 2010, the Solidarity Center and the U.S. Agency for International Development mission in Peru signed an agreement on a three-year program for enhancing enforcement and understanding of labor rights in Peru, strengthening unions, and enabling the Peruvian labor movement to build strong democratic institutions. Learn more about worker rights and labor law in Peru in the Solidarity Center’s 2009 Global Policy Brief,
Peruvian Society, Workers, and Labor Law
"We Have to Work Together If We Want to Protect Our Rights." Seventy percent of the 60,000 workers in Peru's $300 million per year asparagus export industry are women. Santos Cruz, who works for the Talsa company in Trujillo, La Libertad, is the only female general secretary of an asparagus workers union. At a recent Solidarity Center sponsored training program for union activists in Trujillo, Cruz talked about their struggle.
Support Striking Mineworkers and Their Families in Cananea, Mexico. More than 1,000 members of Mexico´s National Union of Mine, Metal and Steelworkers have been on strike at the Cananea copper mine in Northern Mexico since July 30, 2007, protesting health and safety and other contract violations.
Executive Council Supports Aid to Chile, Haiti and Backs Mexican Workers. The AFL-CIO Executive Council called on the world community to provide quick, no strings attached aid to Chile after the massive earthquake February 27. The union leaders also reaffirmed strong support for the relief efforts in Haiti and condemned the Mexican government’s attempts to break the union at Grupo Mexico mines.
Honduran Garment Workers Sign Landmark Agreement. Solidarity Center partners SITRAJERZEESH and the Honduran General Confederation of Workers signed a landmark agreement with Russell Athletic/Fruit of the Loom, Inc., the largest private employer in Honduras. The signing ended a year-long campaign protesting the controversial closure of the company’s Jerzees de Honduras apparel factory.
In Honduras, a Cry for Democracy. The Solidarity Center’s Gladys Cisneros and Stephen Wishart were caught in Honduras when ousted President Manuel Zelaya returned, raising and dashing the hopes of the Honduran people for a restoration to democracy and constitutional order.
From Earthquake Rubble Rise Strong Peruvian Unions. While reconstruction in quake-devastated Pisco lags nearly two years later, local unions are building a movement.
AFL-CIO, in Solidarity with Honduran Unions, Condemns Military Coup. "The AFL-CIO denounces this unconscionable attack on the fundamental rights and liberties of the Honduran people," says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in a June 30, 2009, press statement.
Lack of Respect for Worker Safety Cost Colombian Miner His Life. In a unified response to safety shortfalls that killed an inexperienced and untrained contract worker at Colombia’s second largest coal mine, 9,000 union miners and contract workers staged a four-day strike late in March that shut down production.
Brazil’s Unions Reach out to Young Workers. On April 15, 2009, Martinho da Conceição, national coordinator of the Trade Union Training Secretariat of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), spoke at the Solidarity Center about the CUT’s efforts to reach out to young workers and the formation of a new Youth Secretariat.
U.S. Union Leaders Meet Champions of the Colombian Labor Movement. On a Solidarity Center sponsored exchange visit, Florida State AFL-CIO Vice President Mike Williams learned about Colombian workers’ constant struggle for social and economic justice—and why U.S workers need to hear their story.
Survey Finds Human Trafficking, Debt Bondage Common in Dominican Republic. Haitian migrants who cross the border into the Dominican Republic for jobs in the construction industry are among the country’s most exploited workers, and many feel that union membership is the key path to decent work, according to a new survey developed by workers for workers with Solidarity Center support.
Working with GUFs and IFIs in Latin America. In Latin America, the Solidarity Center is working with Global Union Federations and international financial institutions to make sure workers have a voice in their own economic future.
Solidarity Center Publications
Learn more
- ITUC 2009 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights in the Americas (English / Spanish).
- The Center for Economic and Policy Research finds that union membership improves pay and benefits for Latino workers in the United States (English / Spanish).
Download
