Hunger Strike! How Immigrant Taxi Drivers Took on City Hall

A group of activists in Waukesha, Wisconsin are honoring the role of immigrants in the community by mobilizing 10,000 people from rural and urban areas across the state to march for the "Day without Latinx & Immigrants." The group, called Voces De La Frontera, also uses the collective power immigrant workers have in the dairy state to influence policy and gain protections for migrants. Through inclusion and conversation, Voces now has 1,500 members, nine adult chapters, and 15 youth chapters in schools, all working together to support immigrants in Wisconsin.

Equip is a business in Lebanon that is trying to prevent further abuse of domestic workers, by helping them communicate better with their employers. “Their business model relies on employers paying for the company’s services, which range from $10 to $550, and include English lessons, first-aid training, legal translation, and conflict mediation.”

Part 2 of a series on solutions to freeing victims of labor trafficking around the globe. With the help of organizations like Damayan Migrant Workers Association in New York, former victims who have been freed from labor trafficking become advocates for others, demanding changes and becoming part of the solution to a vicious cycle of worker victimization.

The Industrial Commons (TIC) strives to create an inclusive economy based on community between employee-owned social enterprises and industrial cooperatives, creating a more democratized, worker-centric environment. Since 2015, TIC has launched five cooperative businesses, employing more than 100 workers, and is working to grow the number of businesses to 75 by 2025.

Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia are leveraging Facebook groups to raise awareness around poor working conditions, empower migrant workers to understand their labor rights, and provide a source of community and connection for employees who are often isolated and in need of support.

Graduate student unions, like Oregon State University’s Coalition of Graduate Employees, use collective bargaining to allow student employees to successfully negotiate for fair wages, reasonable hours, and other terms of employment.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers developed a framework called the worker-driven social responsibility paradigm, which is designed to help protect migrant employees who often don't have the right to unionize but are vulnerable to workplace manipulation and abuse due to their immigration status. The paradigm targets the supply chain, using legal agreements to require that migrant workers have a direct say in designing and enforcing workplace protections, and the model has been implemented in initiatives such as the Fair Food Program and the Milk With Dignity Program.

Ethiopian domestic workers stuck in Lebanon can now rely on help from an organization started by Ethiopian women who were once in their shoes. Victims of labor exploitation have a hard time escaping abusive situations, leaving them stranded in Lebanon without a place to stay or a means to get home.

Legislation known as the Garment Worker Protection Act is being hailed as a game changer for workers in the fashion industry. Low wages, forced overtime, and sweatshop conditions are common for garment workers in California but the new law will hold employers. Labor rights activists across the world are taking notice.

A first-of-its-kind worker-led program in Vermont is helping dairy migrant workers to "hold farmers, corporations, and suppliers in the dairy industry accountable for the rights of workers in their supply-chains through a legally-binding agreement." Although not all dairy farm operations have joined in the program as participants, it has been enacted on 64 farms and helped bolster wages and housing situations for migrant farmers.