In Kenya, the Solidarity Center focuses on paralegal training, women’s empowerment, gender-based violence in the workplace, building organizational capacity for agricultural workers, ending child labor on farms and plantations, and promoting innovative union outreach strategies.
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Political instability and related outbreaks of violence have seriously threatened Kenya’s status as the largest and most diversified economy in East Africa. Restoring sustainable progress is linked to overcoming Kenya’s staggering poverty and unemployment rates, as well as rebuilding workers’ confidence that they will benefit from renewed economic growth. As a major civil society organization, the Kenyan labor movement is poised to address these issues, including the legal and political problems contributing to the recent crisis. The Solidarity Center’s principal partner in Kenya is the Kenyan Central Organization of Trade Unions, whose 600,000 members represent more than 30 percent of Kenya’s industrialized workforce. COTU plays a vital role in improving the living and working conditions of all Kenyans.
Fighting Child Trafficking in Kenya. The Solidarity Center and its partners in Kenya are fighting child trafficking and forced labor on agricultural plantations, in the fishing industry, and in domestic work.
Hotel and Tourism Workers Help Fight Human Trafficking in Kenya. Hotel and Tourism Workers Help Fight Human Trafficking in Kenya.
Lose Your Job or Your Life: Kenyan Workers Caught in Post-Election Violence. The situation for workers in Kenya is rapidly deteriorating. Violence due to post-election clashes between supporters of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga has worsened, increasingly along ethnic and tribal lines. The death toll stands at 1,000; among the dead are union members who wanted nothing more than to earn a living to support their families. Human Rights Watch reports that hundreds of thousands more have been driven from their homes, with entire communities uprooted. They have been warned that they will be murdered if they return. Nearly 500,000 Kenyans who work in the formal sector are in danger of losing their jobs and benefits as a result of the unrest. Union leaders fear that even if peace can be restored, it will come too late. Solidarity Center field staffer David Alvarado, on the ground with workers, spoke with a group of flower workers in one of the most conflict-torn areas.
Behind the Headlines: Kenyan Workers Caught in Post-Election Violence. Violence due to post-election clashes between supporters of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga has worsened, increasingly along ethnic and tribal lines. Field staffer David Alvarado, on the ground with workers, reports from Nairobi.
Kenya Travelogue Part 2. Solidarity Center Executive Director Ellie Larson and two AFA-CWA Local Council Presidents — Dianne Tamuk, AFA-CWA Council 5, and Shawn Fivecoat, AFA-CWA Council 93 — examined the impact of Solidarity Center HIV/AIDS programs on transport sector workers in Kenya. This is the concluding entry in a journal from the delegation’s six-day visit with members and leaders of Kenya’s labor movement. Read the first installment.
Kenya Travelogue Part 1. Solidarity Center Executive Director Ellie Larson and two AFA-CWA Local Council Presidents — Dianne Tamuk, AFA-CWA Council 5, and Shawn Fivecoat, AFA-CWA Council 93 — examined the impact of Solidarity Center HIV/AIDS programs on transport sector workers in Kenya. This is the first entry in a journal from the delegation’s six-day visit with members and leaders of Kenya’s labor movement. Read the conclusion of the journey.
Breakthrough for Africa Telecom Workers. Leaders of four communications unions in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa signed a groundbreaking resolution to cooperate on common concerns in order to organize workers in multinational telecom companies across Africa.
Truckers Join Campaign to Prevent HIV/AIDS. As a partner in ROADS, the Solidarity Center is helping truckers along the East Africa transport corridor take responsibility and take action to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Child Labor in Kenya. The Solidarity Center, in partnership with the Kenyan Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU), is launching a new child labor/child trafficking program.
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