Fifteen minutes before the gray, 12-foot gate of the garment factory compound in Myanmar’s Hlaing Thar Yar industrial zone opens to release workers, vendors selling fried chicken on sticks and bags of nuts gather in anticipation. At a designated time, the guards roll...
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Farmers Form Unions across Myanmar to Save Their Land
On a hot, damp morning in Hlae Ku Township, Myanmar, Kyin San surveys the rice fields spread below her, as Mg Zaw, knee deep in mud, drives two oxen to plow the remaining plot. For many years, Kyin San, like most of the farmers in the area, worried that her land would...
Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar: Dignity on the Job
Workers in Myanmar are free to form unions for the first time in decades since the start of a military dictatorship. At the Coca-Cola plant in Yangon, workers are members of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar. "We need to form more unions in our country,...
Myanmar Officially Recognizes Trade Union Confederation
Fabulous news for working people in Myanmar: The government has officially recognized the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar (CTUM), and registered the federation as representing “all Myanmar.” In a ceremony today, CTUM President Maung Maung and other union...
REPORT: IDENTIFYING EFFECTIVE WORKER VOICE
When workers can “speak up, articulate and manifest collective agency that ultimately improves the terms and conditions of their employment and their livelihoods,” they also have a role in shaping their societies and “contributing to democratic participation beyond...
STATEMENT: SOLIDARITY CENTER WELCOMES WHITE HOUSE COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL LABOR RIGHTS
In response to the unveiling of the Biden administration’s Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights and High Labor Standards Globally, Solidarity Center Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau issued the following statement: “The Biden...
Summit for Democracy: No Democracy Without Unions
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Podcast: Workers Speak Out: Unions Are Essential for Democracy
Workers from around the world, including those exiled from Belarus, Eswatini and Myanmar for forming unions, striking and trying to speak freely, describe why democracy is important—and why unions are key to democracy—in a special episode of The Solidarity Center...
Workers Speak Out: Unions Are Essential to Democracy
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Workers from around the world, including those exiled from Belarus, Eswatini and Myanmar for forming unions, striking and trying to speak freely, describe why democracy is important—and why unions are key to democracy.
High-Level, Global Initiative: Worker Rights Fundamental to Democracy
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[Southeast Asia Globe] Severance pay remains a struggle for Southeast Asian workers
If severance cases continue to be treated individually and the garment industry and governments do not implement measures to prevent wage theft, no brand will make serious efforts to reform supply chains, said David Welsh, Solidarity Center country program director...
AFL-CIO Convention: Side Event Highlights Global Organizing, Worker Power
The Global Organizing Symposium, a daylong side event of the AFL-CIO Convention, brought together workers and activists from around the world to share experiences focused on building collective power for workers post-pandemic and highlighted their role in fighting...
Women Leaders at Forefront of Key Worker Rights Struggles
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Podcast: Colombia Workers Risk Lives for Better Future
When hundreds of thousands of Colombians took to the streets for weeks last spring to protest the government’s move to give wealthy corporations and rich individuals huge tax breaks while raising taxes on working people, workers and their unions were at the forefront....
Remembering Richard Trumka, Champion of Global Solidarity
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, son of a U.S. coal miner and leader of the largest and most powerful organization of working people in the United States, believed strongly in the strength of global solidarity and stood staunchly with workers around the world. His...
LEADERSHIP
Shawna Bader-Blau, Executive Director Shawna Bader-Blau leads the Solidarity Center—the largest global worker rights organization based in the United States—and its 400-plus staff in headquarters and 35 field offices, and programs in more than 60 countries. Shawna...
Morocco Union Condemns Firing of Top Journalist, Labor Advocate
The Union of Moroccan Workers (UMT) is condemning the recent firing of journalist and television host Youssef Belhaissi and attacks on other members of his union, including Aziz Fathi, a union office coordinator, who was demoted from editor-in-chief. The company had...
Global: Unions Stand with Black Lives Matter Movement
Around the world, workers and their labor unions and have joined in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protesters in the United States, demonstrating support for peaceful marches, and decrying racism, police brutality and inequality—in the United States and in...
WORKERS AND THEIR UNIONS TAKE ACTION ON COVID-19
As the novel coronavirus spreads, unions and worker associations around the world are demanding safe and healthy conditions for workers who must remain on the job, and that they be compensated during forced work site closures and not laid off to ensure high returns...
Black Lives Matter: Unions Must Be a Force for Social Justice
The Solidarity Center believes that Black Lives Matter and stands unequivocally with the millions of Americans and allies around the world peacefully calling for equality for Black people and an end to all forms of racist violence. These mass demonstrations are a...