Samantha Tate contributed to the FES monthly magazine, InterQuorum, which focused the entire edition on youth and decent work in Latin America. Her article appears in the print and online versions, in Spanish.
Gunmen on a motorcycle assassinated another Guatemalan union leader on Friday, bringing to 87 the number of labor leaders murdered in the country since November 2004. Tomás Francisco Ochoa Salazar, disputes secretary for the Bremen Union (SITRABREMEN), was leaving the meat-processing plant where he worked in Guatemala City when he was shot. Andy Noel Godinez,… [READ MORE]
After a nine-year struggle to achieve union recognition and their first contract in the Dominican Republic, “it is undeniable that today we are stronger,” says Ramón Mosquea, secretary general of the union, SINTRALAYDO. “I have worked 12 years for this company [Frito Lay/PepsiCo], and I want to tell you how important it was for us… [READ MORE]
The United Nations Security Council recently adopted Resolution 2371—the latest sanctions on North Korea. In so doing, the Security Council acquiesced to the continuation of the country’s state-sponsored, forced-labor-for-export scheme and abandoned an important opportunity to protect the rights and dignity of workers as defined by UN conventions, writes the Solidarity Center’s Jeff Vogt.
Iraqi union leader Sultan Mutlag Ahmed won unpaid compensation for construction workers after participating in a Solidarity Center labor law training in which he learned about worker rights under the country’s new labor law. Ahmed tells his story in the latest video on the Solidarity Center Workers Equality Forum.
Jennifer Kuhlman, country director of the Solidarity Center, and Timothy Ryan, the organizations’s regional program director, said the government has a unique opportunity to reform the Bangladesh Labor Act and Export Processing Zones Authority Act expressing hopes that it could be done through broad-based input from stakeholders and the people, building consensus and creating a… [READ MORE]
Meeting in Togo for the annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum this month, nearly 20 leaders from key African trade unions joined forces to advance the creation of good jobs and safe workplaces through fair trade. The forum “is a venue for workers to have their voices heard by officials and politicians all… [READ MORE]
The Domestic Workers Solidarity Network in Jordan is the first initiative of its kind in the country and one of few in the region. The network, whose motto is “Sisters in Solidarity,” aims to serve and support domestic workers through awareness-raising, legal assistance and roundtables in coordination with the Adalah Center for Human Rights Studies…. [READ MORE]
A $60,000 claim by Cambodia’s largest brewer against the Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation (CFSWF) and its leader, Sar Mora, was dismissed this week by the Cambodian Provincial Court in Sihanoukville, putting an end to what the union alleges is the latest volley in the company’s years-long campaign to intimidate workers. Cambrew, which is… [READ MORE]
Kymbat Sherimbayeva was born in Naryn Oblast, a mountainous and very cold region of Kyrgyzstan where most people support themselves through cattle breeding. Seven years ago, 18-year-old Sherimbayeva left her village for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, seeking work. Youth un- and underemployment stands at 55 percent in Kyrgyzstan. Most young people feel forced to migrate to… [READ MORE]