Two union activists were murdered in Guatemala and one in Honduras, while dozens of others were targets of violence—including threats of murder, kidnapping and stalking—over the past year, according to two reports released this week. In Guatemala, “where the...
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Women in Media: 1 in 2 Experience Violence at Work
Nearly one in two women journalists have experienced sexual harassment, psychological abuse, online trolling and other forms of gender-based violence (GBV) while working—yet “up to three-quarters of media workplaces have no reporting or support mechanism,” says...
Gender-Based Violence at Work
Gender-based violence is one of the most prevalent and tolerated human rights violations in the world—including at the workplace. Gender-based violence affects all workers, but unequal status and power relations in society and at work often result in women being far...
Honduras: Unions Call for Transparency, Respect for Rights as Election Crises Deepens
The Honduran Network of Trade Unionists against Anti-Union Violence is calling for a public recount of votes, an end to the violent repression of protests and international solidarity with the people of Honduras following a November 26 presidential election marred...
Social Justice Unionism: Labor Can Make Change
“Informal workers are organizing and they will organize as long as there is injustice and oppression,” says Sue Schurman, distinguished professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University. Opening a Solidarity Center book launch and panel...
Ending Gender-Based Violence at Work in Morocco Farms
Agricultural work remains one of the most dangerous in the world. And women, who comprise between 50 percent and 70 percent of the informal workforce in commercial agriculture, are especially vulnerable to sexual harassment, physical abuse and other forms of...
Kailash Satyarthi: Unions Essential to Ending Child Labor
Kailash Satyarthi, a Solidarity Center ally, won the Nobel Prize in 2014 for his lifelong efforts to end child labor. He began this work much earlier, in 1986 in Jharkand province—one of India’s poorest regions at the time, a place where child labor was common across...
Campaign Vows to End Gender-Based Violence at Work
No global data document gender-based violence at work. But across the board, gender-based violence remains one of the most tolerated violations of workers’ human rights. Some 35 percent of women over age 15—818 million women globally—have experienced sexual or...
Union Leader Murdered in Colombia
The president of a local branch of Colombia’s National Union of Agricultural Workers (SINTRAINAGRO) was fatally shot by gunmen on a motorcycle on July 1 while watching his son play soccer. Alberto Román Acosta González led the Guacarí SINTRAINAGRO branch in Colombia's...
ITUC Report: Global Rise in Violence, Repression of Workers
Workers around the world experienced rising physical violence and threats over the last year—and in more countries--according to this year’s ITUC Global Rights Index. The report documents attacks on union members in 59 countries and shows that 60 percent of countries...
Falsely Convicted Uzbek Union Activist Dies in Prison
A prominent Uzbek worker rights activist, falsely accused and jailed in 2014, died almost six months ago in prison—with news of his death only reaching the public this week. Nuraddin Jumaniyozov, who was serving a nine-year term following a conviction for “human...
Honduran Worker Rights Activists Face Rising Violence
A brutal attack against a union leader and his brother in Honduras is the latest in escalating violence directed at worker rights activists there, according to the Honduran National Network for Violence Against Trade Unionists and other Solidarity Center partners in...
Unions Key to Ending Gender-Based Violence at Work
Gender-based violence at work is far more prevalent than reported and ending it will require women coming together to challenge male-dominated structures—whether in corporations, governments or their own unions, according to leaders and experts from a variety of...
Building Alliances to End Gender-Based Violence at Work
Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world—and yet not enough is done to prevent it, especially at the workplace. “Without gender equality, we cannot have worker rights, and without worker rights, we cannot have...
Guatemalan Union Leader’s Murder a ‘Cowardly Act’
The murder of Brenda Marleni Estrada Tambito, deputy coordinator of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Trade Union of Workers of Guatemala (UNSITRAGUA / HISTORICA), was a “cowardly criminal attack” according to the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA)...
Report Tallies Threats against Guatemala Unionists
Guatemala is still one of the most dangerous places in the world for worker rights activists, with 14 incidents of anti-union violence documented and verified in 2015, according to a report issued today by the Worker Rights Defenders Network of Guatemala. The...
14 Honduran Unionists Attacked or Threatened in Past Year
Since April 2015, at least 14 Honduran union leaders and members have suffered threats or violence, including one who was disappeared and another one who was murdered, part of a campaign of intimidation against worker rights documented in a new report by the Union...
Tunisia Union Federation Backs Kasserine Jobs Protest
Days of economic protests in Kasserine, Tunisia, are the result of “the persistent marginalization” and “the ruling elite's failure to achieve the hopes and expectations of Tunisians,” especially the young, according to the country’s union federation, Union Générale...
Honduran Union Leader, Family Leave Home after Threats
Honduran union leader Nelson Geovanni Nuñez Chavez was forced to leave his home with his family last week after repeatedly being followed and harassed, according to the Honduras-based nonprofit ACI-Participa. Nuñez Chavez is technical adviser to the Honduran...
Guatemalan Union Activist Murdered in Front of His Home
Mynor Rolando Ramos Castillo, a municipal worker in Jalapa, a city in southeast Guatemala, was shot and killed in front of his home over the weekend. His family detained the killer and turned him into the police. The killer confessed to accepting the hit for 1,500...