English
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese (Simplified)
French
Georgian
Hausa
Indonesian
Kurdish (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz
Portuguese
Russian
Serbian
Sesotho
Sinhala
Spanish
Swahili
Tamil
Ukrainian
Zulu
/
RSS Feed
GLOBAL PLASTICS TREATY MUST NOT LEAVE WORKERS BEHIND
/
Climate & Labor Justice
The livelihoods and safety of these women fishing shrimp from a river southwest of Dhaka are increasingly threatened by climate change. Given that 80 percent of Bangladesh’s land is low-lying floodplain, seas are rising and area cyclones are escalating in frequency and severity, one in every seven of the country’s people will be displaced by climate change by 2050. Credit: Reuters/Rafiqur Rahman– stock.adobe.com
The climate crisis impacts workers and their communities in a multitude of ways. Flooding, drought and extreme weather events push workers to migrate, often into low-wage jobs under dangerous conditions. Workers in highly polluting industries face the dual impacts of occupational health and safety hazards and environmental degradation, both of which put their families and communities at risk. Marginalized workers—including minority populations, workers with disabilities, women, youth, migrants and workers in the informal economy—are already experiencing some of the worst impacts of climate change and are often excluded from decision-making processes. Workers and their unions are uniquely positioned to help build a global climate justice movement, bolstered by their support from, and participation in, broad-based coalitions as well as long-term experience in people-centered policy and legislative advocacy in their respective countries. As governments and industries plan to transition to cleaner alternatives, workers and their unions must have a meaningful say in the process to ensure that a greener economy is also one that protects worker rights and advances decent work. The needs of workers and their communities must be at the center of climate-responsive policies and practices, including in designing a fair or just transition to a more equitable and sustainable economy as a way to mitigate the impacts of climate change and enable adaptation for impacted communities.
Our Approach
The Solidarity Center recognizes that addressing the climate crisis is critical to ensuring decent work and a strong labor movement in the future. In response, the Solidarity Center supports workers and their unions to:
- Develop worker-driven climate solutions and play a significant role in their implementation to protect hard-fought gains and advance worker rights in changing industries
- Use collective bargaining to advance cleaner, safer and more sustainable operations across sectors; and ensure an inclusive process that prioritizes the needs of workers and their communities in transitioning sectors.
- Build broader coalitions, securing the mutual commitment of climate, human rights and community organizations in the fight to win decent, unionized green jobs; build healthy, resilient and sustainable communities; and support worker rights
- Effectively participate in national, regional and global climate justice negotiations and hold policymakers and employers accountable for achieving a just transition to a cleaner economy that enables workers to enjoy their fundamental freedoms and rights; and
- Advance an enabling legal environment to achieve a just transition, recognizing the critical link between labor rights and environmental justice.
Our Programs Solidarity Center initiatives to advance climate justice include:
- Legal research on the new forms of collective representation and collective bargaining necessary to attain a just transition, and, with the Solidarity Center’s International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW network), litigation of cases and legal processes and advocacy that advance worker rights
- Following a convening of palm oil unions from Colombia, Honduras, Indonesia and Malaysia, with environmental partners, implementation of a strategic plan by labor leaders from those countries that addresses issues with common actors and challenges within the supply chain, and pursues advocacy avenues for worker protection demands and engagement in policymaking on climate-change mitigation measures
- A coalition-building program in Colombia, Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa and Ukraine that raises awareness within and between unions, environmental and community groups about the environmental impact of the extractive and energy sectors in their respective countries while identifying opportunities for coalitions to advocate for safe, sustainable employment within these sectors
- Publication and dissemination of a report on the intersection of climate change and migration in Bangladesh that highlights for policy makers in that country how climate-related salinization has diminished the ability to grow rice and demonstrates that many workers are forced to migrate in search of jobs elsewhere or seek lower paying jobs in the shrimp industry
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...
Roadmap To Justice: How Kyrgyzstan’s Platform Economy Workers Can Stand For Their Rights (2022)
The digital platform share in the economy in Kyrgyzstan is growing, and with that growth, an increasing number of people are working through these platforms. Due to its growth, the vulnerability of workers in this sector has also become more apparent, especially for...
Roadmap To Justice: How Kazakhstan’s Platform Economy Workers Can Stand For Their Rights (2022)
Kazakhstan has the most developed digital market in the region, and digital platform companies operate in Kazakhstan’s major cities. With the sector’s growth, the vulnerability of workers in this segment has also become more apparent, especially for marginalized...
THE HIGH COST OF LOW WAGES IN HAITI (2022)
Haitian garment workers face increasing difficulty in covering basic expenditures as prices soar while wages hover far below the cost of living. Download in English and Haitian Creole.
Bargaining for Decent Work and Beyond: Transforming Work and Lives Through Collective Bargaining Agreements in the Honduran Maquila Sector (2022)
Unions in the Honduran maquila sector bargain to improve work conditions and address gender-based violence at work, and so provide options for those who may migrate to seek jobs, a Solidarity Center report finds. Download in English and Spanish.
Hot trends: How the global garment industry shapes climate change vulnerability in Cambodia (2022)
In response to mounting public pressure, companies have moved rapidly to launch media campaigns highlighting their commitment to a green future. The global garment industry is no different. Behind much of this “greenwashing” remains the reality that the garment supply...