Publications
Defending Unions in Crisis: A Guide for Responding to Threats Related to Shrinking Civic Space
This guide is primarily designed for union organizations operating in a context of shrinking civic space and threats to fundamental democratic freedoms, like freedom of association, that threaten trade unions and activists.
It can also be useful for other civil society organizations (CSOs) representing vulnerable communities in similar contexts.
As a package, the guide can help organizations assess a threat, plan a cohesive response, engage allies, take actions, and monitor impact. Not all sections will be applicable in every situation, and tools are designed to be flexible and easily adaptable for different national contexts.
LOW PAY, NO SUPPORT: Sri Lanka Delivery Drivers Fight for Worker Rights
Sri Lanka’s app-based taxi drivers and delivery workers are classified as freelancers or self-employed workers, an independent worker status outside labor regulation. They are not covered by hard-won labor laws that mandate a minimum wage, social protections, and the right to join or form a union and bargain collectively.
The Solidarity Center surveyed and interviewed Sinhalese and Tamil platform workers in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to learn about the conditions they are working to change in the country’s growing informal economy.
Heat Stress in the Cambodian Workplace
In Cambodia, workers health and safety and climate change are linked. This report details the results of surveys, interviews, and thermal monitoring conducted in the garment, delivery, and informal food sector that display the negative effect that heat has on workers, and give insight on how unions are an effective solution for positive change. “Workers whose union negotiates with their employers over heat mitigation experienced 75% less working time under stress.”
2023 Annual Report
In 2023, the Solidarity Center supported workers as they took on exploitative multinational companies and robot algorithms, demanded their governments tackle social ills and deliver on promises, and fought for justice in environments increasingly dangerous to those who defend democracy and work to thwart disenfranchisement and inequality. In our annual report, learn about how the Solidarity Center is standing with workers, trade unions and their movements in 66 countries around the world as they organize and mobilize to create change.
2022 Annual Report
In 2022, the Solidarity Center marked a quarter century of supporting embattled workers, advocating and litigating for change, and celebrating worker rights advances in troubled times. As crackdowns on fundamental civil rights intensify around the world, workers and their unions are often the first targets. However, with their collective strength, workers and their movements have proven to be the largest force for protecting democracy. Learn more about how the Solidarity Center is standing with workers, trade unions and their movements in 60-plus countries reaching more than 70 million workers in our 2022 annual report.
There Is No Work We Haven’t Done: Forced Labor of Public-Sector Employees in Uzbekistan
Although the government of Uzbekistan has made progress on ending child and adult forced labor in the cotton fields after more than a decade of international pressure, a new report finds that forced labor remains rampant in other arenas of Uzbek life, affecting public-sector workers in particular.
Download here in English.
Download here in Russian.
Download here in Uzbek.
