Edias was 12 years old when he traveled from Zimbabwe to South Africa to look for a job in agriculture. Now in his mid-twenties, he and other farm workers had been working 12 hour days, 7 days a week, and paid less than half the legal minimum wage when they asked the...
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EVENT: What Governments Can Do To Ensure Fair and Ethical Recruitment
Date: Wednesday, July 7 Time: 9:00 -10:00 a.m. EDT Place: Virtual; registration required Solidarity Center Migration and Human Trafficking Global Lead Neha Misra will participate in a panel discussion on FairSquare’s Five Corridors Project research, a two-year...
Countries Must Cooperate to Facilitate Safe Migration for Workers
Globally, marginalized workers have been especially hard hit by the novel coronavirus. Migrant workers in particular have experienced some of the harshest effects of COVID-19 and the related lockdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions. Yet while the world has...
BUILDING POWER: WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP IN THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE, DEMOCRACY, AND FAIR WORK
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 from 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. The Murphy Institute, 25 W 43rd St., 18th Floor, New York, NY 10036 Agenda 2:30- 3:00 PM: Registration 3:00- 3:20 PM: Opening Remarks Gregory Mantsios, Dean of the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies...
Event: Workers Key to More Fair Global Food Supply Chains
Farmworker rights advocates, policymakers and agricultural workers from Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia and the United States are set to share strategies to build worker power, create decent work in the fields and demand greater justice across global food chains in Los...
Nepal Quake Recovery, Done Right, Could Ease Migration Pressure
Two years after Nepal’s powerful earthquake, slow pace of reconstruction offers an opportunity for the nation to change its economic model, which leans heavily on remittances from Nepali migrant workers. It is a “unique moment” to create jobs that protect workers’ rights, pay fair wages and boost the economic status of its citizens, according to a new report by U.S.-based groups Solidarity Center and JustJobs Network.
Labor Migration Conference: ‘Our Voices Will Be Strong’
“We want to make our voices heard and strong in Africa and globally. Our voices will be strong,” Joel Odigie told the more than 130 union leaders, migrant worker rights advocates and top international human rights officials in the closing session of the Solidarity...
‘Create Decent Work at Home so Labor Migration Is a Choice’
The respect and dignity of labor migrants is under increasing threat, says Kassahun Follo, first vice president, International Trade Union Confederation-Africa, as migrant workers are demonized and denied basic rights, actions driven by exploitation, racism and...
Labor Migration Conference Opens Tomorrow
Prexedes, 41, supports her family as a domestic worker, juggling jobs at three employers in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally from Zimbabwe, Prexedes says after her divorce, she had no choice but to seek work cleaning homes, cooking, and caring for others'...
Making the System Fair for Migrant Workers
Ishor, 24, migrated from Nepal to Malaysia last November to work for a company at Johor Bahru’s busy commercial shipping port. What he did not know before he arrived is that the job involved working 16-hour days and being physically abused and harassed by his...
Migration Conference News
Let’s Create a Global Civil Rights Movement, August 12, 2015 Migration Driven by Lack of Stable Employment, August 12, 2015 Migrant Workers Empowered by Forming Unions, August 12, 2015 'You Don't Lose Your Rights When You Leave a Country," August 11, 2015...
Unions Strive to Level the Playing Field for Africa’s 34 Million Migrant Workers
Throughout the Solidarity Center’s recent conference, “Achieving Fair Migration: Roles of African Trade Unions and Their Partners,” union leaders and migrant rights advocates explored the xenophobia, racism and sexism migrant workers face, and sought to increase vital connections between unions and civil society organisations to campaign for laws and policies to level the playing field for migrant workers.
Video: Ending Gender Violence at Work with Collective Action
Seeking a job to support her family but lacking opportunity in her native Bangladesh, Shahida became a domestic worker far from her home. Beyond duties in her employer's home, she was forced to work at the houses of several of his relatives, giving her little time to...
Ensuring Access to Justice for Workers in Forced Labor
When Fauzia Muthoni arrived in Qatar from Kenya to work as a receptionist and earn money to support her family, the labor agent traveling with her informed Muthoni the job was in Saudi Arabia and escorted her to another plane. She tried calling her family, but...
Solidarity Center Backs Migrant Workers, Refugees
The toxic spread of xenophobia, racism, misogyny and fear marginalizes millions of migrant workers and refugees—further disenfranchising people whose jobs do not lift them from poverty, afford them safe workplaces or uphold their dignity. The Solidarity Center is...
Decent Jobs at Home Means Not Risking Your Life Abroad
If working people could find good jobs, they would not be forced into a desperate search for employment in other countries, a process that means they often are exploited and abused, says Caroline Khamati Mugalla, executive secretary of the East African Trade Union...
Migrant Farm Workers: Courage in the Face of Inhumanity
Seventeen years ago, 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. So to complete his workload, he often does not walk the long distance to access the toilet or...
‘We Don’t Park Our Human Rights at the Border’
More than 130 union leaders, migrant worker rights advocates and top international human rights officials from nearly two dozen countries were urged to take action to improve migrant worker rights in by a range of speakers on the second day of the January 25–27...
Speeches
SHAWNA BADER-BLAU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Speech at the 28th triennial convention of the Office and Professional Employees International (OPEIU) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 10, 2019. “On Our Terms: How We Redefine Democracy and Reverse Exploitation through Social...
‘Shutting Doors Won’t Help Migrant Workers’
Highlighting the rampant economic inequality across the globe that is in part driving people to migrate for work far from their homes, Michelle Leighton, chief of the Labor Migration Branch at the International Labor Organization (ILO), provided a detailed look at the...