Sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence are rampant in garment factories in Bangladesh and throughout the textile production and retail industry in South Africa, according to two recently published Solidarity Center reports. The sample surveys are...
The Solidarity Center engages with unions and their allies through an analysis and practice of equality, radical inclusion and intersectionality that is explicitly feminist, anti-racist, pro-equality, pro-worker, pro-migrant and class conscious.
The Solidarity Center designs and implements strategies to confront the multiple and intersecting forms of oppression that contribute to economic structures in which women and other groups of workers are devalued and excluded from economic and social equality. This requires a conscious effort to examine how oppressive forces play out throughout the global labor movement with a commitment to dismantle these systems. Explicit in this work is the understanding that the agency and leadership of the most marginalized workers are key components of decent work and economic justice for all.
The Solidarity Center has assisted unions and their allies in countries such as Cambodia, Colombia, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Nicaragua, South Africa and Tunisia to ensure meaningful participation of historically excluded and marginalized workers in unions and other democratic structures.
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In Morocco, the Solidarity Center supported a multi-year effort to build women worker power and gender equality which led to the inclusion of women workers during negotiations for the first collective bargaining agreement in the informal agriculture sector. In Colombia, the Solidarity Center supported the development of the first national organization dedicated to improving the working conditions of Afro-Colombians.
In Kyrgyzstan, Morocco and Tunisia, Solidarity Center is assisting in strengthening union efforts to promote inclusion of individuals with disabilities. In Nicaragua, Solidarity Center supports domestic workers as they address inclusion of LGBTQI union members to ensure they can represent themselves, articulate their priorities and increase their leadership opportunities and visibility.
The Solidarity Center:
- Conducts research and awareness-raising to challenge systems of oppression and inform inclusive approaches to building worker power across social identities at all levels
- Supports representative, inclusive leadership in our partner organizations
- Engages in cross-movement work to combat tools of oppression that impact women, including gender-based violence and harassment at work
- Brings together unions and community groups to identify shared socioeconomic struggles, analyzes how those struggles are linked to systemic racism and implements organizing, legal and advocacy strategies to collectively overcome the oppression that entraps workers in poverty
- Advocates for economic policies that uproot systemic discrimination and exploitation in labor markets.
Pandemic a ‘Cruel Joke’ Say Migrant Kyrgyz Women Working in Russia
Women and workers from marginalized communities suffered disproportionately from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a new survey details the effects on Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia. The survey of almost 300 Kyrgyz women who are dependent on precarious,...
M-POWER SUMMIT: GOVERNMENTS, UNIONS UNITE AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AT WORK
Millions of workers—most of them women—face intimidation, humiliation, physical and verbal assault, and worse on the job. A July 27, 2023, international summit in southern Africa gathered representatives from the governments of Argentina, Canada, Germany, Lesotho,...
Global Impact report: Eradicating Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Work
The Solidarity Center Global Impact report highlights the Solidarity Center's support of unions and civil society organizations in ending gender-based violence (GBVH) at work and showcases key outcomes, including a landmark agreement to address GBVH in Lesotho garment...
ADDRESSING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT IN THE WORLD OF WORK: An Analysis of Nigeria’s Legal Framework for Conformity with ILO Convention 190
The report outlines the current legal framework in Nigeria regarding violence and harassment at work; examines key provisions of C190 and how to amend laws to fully realize these protections; and identifies opportunities for legal practitioners to utilize existing...
Securing Equal Access to Decent Work in Nigeria: A Report by Workers with Disabilities
A survey of more than 600 workers with disabilities in Nigeria conducted by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) Women Commission and the Solidarity Center in collaboration with Nigerian unions and disability rights organizations, finds that most workers...
2021–2022 Agreements to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in Lesotho
A report by Workers’ Rights Watch tracks progress on a precedent-setting, worker-centered program in Lesotho garment factories to prevent gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) of garment workers producing jeans for the global market. The Lesotho Agreements...
Mapping Domestic Work and Discrimination in Africa
This report looks at the domestic, regional and international legal frameworks regulating domestic work in nine countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. Download it here.
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...