What I Do
Deborah Cannada, Librarian - West Side Elementary School, Charleston, WV.
Deborah Cannada, Librarian - West Side Elementary School, Charleston, WV.
Colombia's sugar cane cutters work long hours for low pay under precarious conditions.
Working people around the world are united by the dignity of work. They are also facing many of the same issues. They’re struggling with massive levels of unemployment and an unrelenting global push to lower wages and living standards.
By joining together in a global network, workers have built the strength to advance workers’ rights and improve their ability to organize and collectively bargain in the global economy. In partnering with working people around the world, the AFL-CIO addresses labor law reform, files international claims for failure to respect labor provisions of trade and preference agreements and negotiates stronger labor language in trade agreements.
Currently, we are working to improve the labor laws in Colombia, Panama, Vietnam, Malaysia, Georgia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. We recently filed a complaint against Guatemala under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and may file similar cases against Honduras, Costa Rica and Peru. We also are coordinating a global trade union coalition to urge the adoption of stronger labor language in new trade agreements, such as the Trans Pacific Free Trade Agreement .
Women workers speak out on trade in Central America.
Andrew Brady, director of Union Solidarity International (USi), sends us this:
Union Solidarity International (USi) is only a couple of months old and we have been trying through social media to inform, educate and campaign with trade union members in the U.K. and Ireland on the issues facing our movement across the world. It’s a high ambition but we know people like you share it.
