Stand with millions of workers to overcome this global pandemic and demand a new social contract
The world is confronting unprecedented challenges and uncertainty as we face the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. Our doors at our field offices might be temporarily closed, but the Solidarity Center remains open and united in our call to protect worker rights worldwide and provide organizing tools to our union partners through grassroots partnership.
What COVID-19 means for our partners and how we are responding:
Today, our union partners and workers are facing unparalleled challenges. More than four out of five people (81 percent) in the global workforce of 3.3 billion are experiencing full or partial workplace closures. Some 1.25 billion workers are in sectors at high risk of "drastic and devastating" layoffs and reductions in wages and working hours.
COVID-19 has brutally exposed the failings of globalization. Unions are filling the void left by governments and employers failing to protect frontline, supply chain and other vulnerable workers. And we need to mobilize behind them. Learn more about COVID-19's impact on worker rights.
The Solidarity Center operates in more than 60 countries, directly with union partners acting and reacting to this crisis. We are supporting migrant workers with food supplies when they receive no government assistance and face rising xenophobia. We are sharing urgently needed information on COVID-19 to help workers protect themselves and their families. We are staffing legal hotlines for workers unjustly fired or targeted for their rights activism. We are providing information about how to seek safety for workers who are experiencing domestic violence.
And, from Jordan to Thailand, these needs are multiplying day by day.
This crisis highlights the need for a new social contract, not a return to the old, unsustainable and exploitative normal. Together, with our unique grassroots capabilities in the Global South and trust built with more than 750 local partners, we will support union partners in developing strategies to collectively advocate and drive long-term change.
Your support for worker rights worldwide is now more critical than ever. Indeed, it demands the greatest display of solidarity in human history.
I know you are committed to helping our grassroots efforts. This is not charity, it is solidarity. By making a donation to the Solidarity Center Education Fund and joining us on #GivingTuesdayNow on May 5, 2020, you will stand with millions of workers to overcome this global crisis together. Thank you for being part of our community.