May Day 2017: Standing up for Worker Rights across the Globe

May Day 2017: Standing up for Worker Rights across the Globe

May 1, 2017

From Cambodia to Zimbabwe, in Serbia and Honduras, hundred of thousands of workers and their families are celebrating International Workers Day, honoring the dignity of work and the accomplishments of the labor movement in defending human rights, job stability, fair wages and safe workplaces. Together, workers and their unions are demonstrating their commitment to sustaining and improving worker lives.  

Here is a roundup of May Day events by Solidarity Center allies around the globe.

Bangladesh, garment workers, May Day 2017, Solidarity Center

Bangladeshi garment workers lit torches and marched peacefully on the eve of May Day, illuminating the night and workers’ spirits.

Cambodia, May Day 2017, Solidarity Center

Some 3,000 workers from unions across Cambodia celebrated May Day with a march to the National Assembly, where they submitted a petition demanding construction workers be included under minimum wage and national guidelines for workplace safety. Police and barricades lined the route, and workers initially were ordered to disperse. Ultimately, the crowd was allowed to march to the National Assembly, where a member of parliament accepted their petition and addressed the crowd.

Honduras, Solidarity Center, agricultural workers, May Day 2017

Members of the Honduran agricultural federation FESTAGRO rallied for fair economic policies to enable workers to earn family-supporting wages, and an end to violence against union leaders and members.

Tunisia, May Day 2017, Solidarity Center

In Tunisia, workers rallied at the country’s union federation, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT), and marched down Avenue Bourguiba after UGTT General Secretary Noureddine Taboubi highlighted improvements for workers achieved through their unions.

Serbia, Solidarity Center, May Day 2017, human rights

In Serbia, some 3,000 workers took part in a May Day rally and march sponsored by the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia and the United Trade Union Nezavisnost. Workers emphasized the need for economic reform to create good jobs, a secure retirement and improved employment prospects for young people to encourage them to stay in Serbia.

Thailand, May Day, Solidarity Center, human rights

Thai workers marched nearly a mile from the Democracy Monument to the United Nations Building to demand the Thai government expand human and worker rights for all, including the country’s millions of marginalized workers struggling to support their families in the informal economy as pedicab drivers, market vendors and in other precarious wor

Across Zimbabwe, workers took part in May Day events to celebrate improvements at the workplace won through their unions. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has led efforts to end unemployment, inhumane working conditions and wage theft.

Jordan, May Day 2017, Solidarity Center, human rights

Workers in Jordan rallied and marched, calling for changes to the country’s labor law to protect worker rights, union freedom to organize and dignity on the job, and to provide social protections for all Jordanians. In Brazil, below, workers also got an early start May 1 commemorations with a massive, 24-hour general strike Friday to protest legislation that would weaken labor regulations and force many Brazilians to work years longer before drawing a pension.

Brazil, general strike, pension, human rights, Solidarity Center

Thousands of Iraqi workers from a range of unions converged in Baghdad for a massive May Day celebration, where they rallied around messages emphasizing that the war on terrorism begins by eliminating unemployment, providing decent work opportunities and supporting national industries. Participants also expressed the need for workers to set the financial policies of the country, not international financial institutions. Credit: Solidarity Center/Wesam Chaseb

Iraq, May Day 2017, Solidarity Center

Members of the Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) rallied in Islamabad, Lahore and other cities across the country to mark May Day. The PWF represents more then 880,000 workers nationwide.

Pakistan, May Day, Solidarity Center

Andrea Nguyen

Solidarity Center: 20 Years Working for Worker Rights

Solidarity Center: 20 Years Working for Worker Rights

Mar 15, 2017

Over the past 20 years, the Solidarity Center has helped eliminate child labor in Liberian rubber plantations; assisted Iraqi trade unions in passing an unprecedented labor law that addresses sexual discrimination at work; campaigned to end workplace-based racism against Afro-Brazilians; and enabled the Burmese labor movement to flourish in a newly democratic Myanmar.

Over the past 20 years, the Solidarity Center has enabled workers like those in Bangladesh garment factories to achieve safer working conditions through thousands of occupational safety programs. With support and training for union organizers, the Solidarity Center has assisted union leaders like those in Georgia empower workers in a wide range of industries to achieve collective bargaining.

Over the past 20 years, the Solidarity Center has helped migrant workers in Moldova and other countries learn about their rights at work while seeking to prevent human trafficking. With a focus on achieving gender equality in the workplace, Solidarity Center programs have trained women workers to take leading roles at their workplaces, in their unions and in their communities.

Over the past 20 years, the Solidarity Center has consistently fought for worker rights—and over the next 20 years, we will expand our work to enable workers to assert their fundamental rights at work and build a better future for workers around the world. Here are a few highlights.

ERADICATING CHILD LABOR IN BANGLADESH

In Bangladesh, the Solidarity Center jump-started the process to eradicate child labor from the garment industry, laid the groundwork that nurtured young women leaders at major unions and associations, wrote the first labor law for export-processing zones and is a catalyst to the current resurgence in helping workers form unions.

A Bangladesh garment worker is among tens of thousands of union members who can bargain for rights at work with their unions, with Solidarity Center assistance. Credit: Solidarity Center

ACHIEVING FIRST-EVER RIGHTS FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS

As part of worldwide campaign to enshrine labor rights for domestic workers, the Solidarity Center joined other global advocates in pushing for passage of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention 189. Passed in 2011, Convention 189 marked a major milestone, signaling recognition that the 53 million mostly women workers who labor in households, often in isolation and at risk of exploitation and abuse, deserve full protection of labor laws.

domestic workers, ILO convention

Passage of the ILO convention on domestic workers’ rights at work culminated a multiyear effort by the Solidarity Center and allied organizations. Credit: Equal Times/JP-Pouteau

SUPPORTING IRAQI TRADE UNIONS PASS AN HISTORIC LABOR LAW

The Solidarity Center was among the first organizations to support Iraq’s blossoming trade union movement and has consistently partnered with the Iraqi labor movement since 2004. It has carried out skills-building programs with dozens of unions and hundreds of their members in every province of the country, and helped Iraqi unions coalesce around and draft a labor law, passed in 2015, that provides for collective bargaining, further limits child labor, improves rights for migrant workers and is the country’s first legislation to address sexual harassment at work.

Iraq, women, labor law, unions, Solidarity Center

In May Day rallies and at other public events, Iraqi workers, with support from the Solidarity Center, pushed for passage of a expansive labor law. Credit: GFITU

WINNING LIVING WAGES ON LIBERIA RUBBER PLANTATIONS

Solidarity Center training and support of the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) laid the groundwork for a landmark collective bargaining agreement in 2008 that eliminated child labor at the Firestone rubber plantation by addressing exploitative wages and workers’ impossible quotas. With Solidarity Center legal support, Liberian union members advocated for the 2015 passage of the Decent Work law, and key provisions, including a minimum wage for informal workers, job safety and health, and workers compensation.

Liberia, student, 17 year old girl, Firestone Junior High, Solidarity Center

Sorbor S. Tarnue, 17, attends school at the Firestone rubber plantation because her parents’ union, FAWUL, a Solidarity Center ally, negotiated a reduction in the high daily production quota of latex. Parents had been forced to bring their children to work to meet the high quotas.

ENSURING SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORKPLACES IN TBLISI, GEORGIA

The Georgian union movement withstood deep attacks on worker rights throughout the 2004–2013 regime of Mikheil Saakashvili. With consistent backing from the Solidarity Center, the Georgia Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) tapped into international mechanisms to protect worker rights, and unions fought back against a broad array of union-busting tactics instigated by the government. Now Solidarity Center programs are enabling Georgian workers to form unions in metal factories, coal mines, schools and hospitals and, through the three-year, “Strengthening Worker Organizations in Georgia,” program, helping transit and other workers address critical safety and health issues at work.

Republic of Georgia, metro technician, unions, Solidarity Center

At the Gldani Metro Depot in Tbilisi, Georgia, the Metro Workers’ Trade Union of Georgia is addressing safety issues through collective bargaining. Credit: Solidarity Center/Lela Mepharishvili

SUSTAINING BURMESE UNIONS THROUGHOUT A LONG DICTATORSHIP

The Solidarity Center’s nearly 30-year support of exiled leaders of the Federation of Trade Unions–Burma following a brutal crackdown by Burma’s military junta, enabled the union movement to return in 2012 to Myanmar. Today, the Confederation of Trade Unions–Myanmar has now helped more than 60,000 workers form unions.

Myanmar, rice farmers, Solidarity Center, worker rights

Farmers across Myanmar are the fastest growing group of workers forming unions since 2011, when a new law allowed creation of unions. Credit: Solidarity Center/Tula Connell

ENSURING COLOMBIA PORT WORKERS HAVE A VOICE ON THE JOB

In Colombia, the Solidarity Center helped workers form the national port workers’ union and provides ongoing support for the union’s worker organizing efforts in a sector that is rife with rights violations. The union now has affiliated more than 10,000 workers and negotiated three collective bargaining agreements—the sector’s only contracts in the past 25 years. These contracts have improved wages and labor conditions for some 2,000 workers, the majority of whom are of Afro-Colombian descent.

Colombia, port workers, Solidarity Center, unions, human rights

With Solidarity Center support, more than 10,000 Colombia port workers have a voice at work through a union. Credit: Solidarity Center/Rhett Doumitt

LEADING INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO PROTECT BAHRAINI WORKERS

In Bahrain, the Solidarity Center played a key role in international efforts, and through a bilateral trade agreement, to defend the local activism of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions, which advocated to protect workers from arbitrary dismissal and discrimination in the wake of the Arab uprising.

Bahrain, Solidarity Center

Fired Bahraini women protest in front of Bahrain Labor Ministry. Photo: Kate Conradt

ACHIEVING RIGHTS FOR MIGRANT WORKERS

Over the past 20 years, the Solidarity Center has helped unions move beyond xenophobia to embrace migrant workers in their unions in the construction sector in the Dominican Republic; persuaded policymakers globally to eliminate onerous recruitment fees for migrant workers, which often result in debt bondage; connected unions in South Asia with unions in the Middle East to facilitate protection of South Asian migrant worker rights; and provided migrant farm workers in South Africa with increased access to justice for nonpayment of wages and discrimination in the workplace.

Construction workers in Dominican Republic, many of Haitian descent, now have a voice at work through their union. Credit: Solidarity Center/Ricardo Rojas

CHALLENGING RACISM AGAINST AFRO-BRAZILIANS AT THE WORKPLACE

The Solidarity Center, together with the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, worked in Brazil with the Inter-American Union Institute for Racial Equality (INSPIR) for the past 20 years to help eliminate racism against Afro-descendants in the workplace and throughout society.

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 .

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