In this public health and economic crisis, together with our partners and allies around the world, ILRF is calling on governments, employers, and multinational corporations to take all necessary measures immediately to curb the spread of Covid-19 and to protect workers’ rights.
Here are some ways you can take action in support of low-wage workers, immigrants, and workers in the global economy:
Online actions:
Apparel industry
- Remake: Gap, Primark, C&A #PayUp for orders, save lives
- Labour Behind the Label: To UK fashion brands
- Oxfam Australia: To Australian fashion brands
- Global Labor Justice: Tweet to fashion brands
Food industry
- Venceremos: Urge poultry companies to provide paid leave benefits for processing workers
- ROC United: Urge Applebee's, IHOP, Denny's, and others to adopt paid sick leave measures
- Trader Joe’s Union Coalition: Urge Trader Joe’s to provide hazard pay
E-tail
To U.S. Congress
- Food Chain Workers Alliance: Call on federal and state government to act to ensure paid sick days, healthcare, worker protections, and income for all workers
- National Nurses United: Demand Congress keep nurses protected during COVID-19
- Tell your Member of Congress to vote NO on H.R. 907: Scapegoating China and Chinese people as a Response to Covid-19
Emergency relief funds:
- Garment Worker Center's relief fund for garment workers in Los Angeles
- Support Batay Ouvriye: Stand with workers in Haiti sewing face masks
- ROC-United's relief fund for restaurant workers
- Undocuscholar's emergency fund for undocumented families and individuals
- Cosecha's mutual aid fund for undocumented immigrants
- One Fair Wage's Emergency Fund for Tipped Workers and Service Workers
Recommended reading:
- Live-blog: How the Coronavirus influences garment workers in supply chains
- Company tracker: Which Brands Are Acting Responsibly toward Suppliers and Workers?
- 6/1 Garment Workers Need Apparel Companies’ Assurance That They Will Be Paid During This Crisis
- 4/24 Remembering the Rana Plaza Workers by Continuing the Fight for Workers’ Rights During the Pandemic
- 4/23 ICCR: The Collateral Damage of Covid-19 in the Bangladesh Apparel Sector
- 4/22 A Global Approach to Protecting Garment Workers in Supply Chains
- 4/9 Apparel brands and retailers need to step up now to protect garment workers
- 4/7 VOICE Network: COVID-19 response for Cocoa Farmers
- 3/27 COVID-19 impact on migrant workers in Thailand
- 3/27 Kailash Satyarthi: Globalizing compassion amidst COVID-19
- 3/27 Penn State’s Center for Global Workers' Rights: Abandoned? The impact of Covid-19 on workers and businesses at the bottom of global garment supply chains
- 3/26 WRC: Who will bail out the workers that make our clothes?
Resources and urgent actions from unions:
- United States: AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE, National Nurses United, UFCW
- Global union federations: IUF, IndustriALL, ITF, ITUC, UNI
- Global Unions: The Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank must produce a plan to coordinate economic stimulus, public health action and debt relief
Mutual aid and local resources:
If you do not yet donate monthly to ILRF, please consider becoming a sustainer today. At any level, your support is truly critical at this time as we continue to support workers across sectors and continents who are fighting for rights on the job, from health and safety to the right to organize.
Art by Katie Chandler.
