Dear John, 

This week we are featuring the work of two of our four Labor Rights Defenders Awardees, the General Agricultural Workers’ Union of Ghana (GAWU) and Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) who will be honored during our first-ever digital Labor Rights Defenders Awards Ceremony taking place on October 1st. Next week, we will feature the Chicago Teachers’ Union and Lorretta Johnson Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers. 

General Agricultural Workers’ Union of Ghana (GAWU)

GAWU is the largest trade union organizing farmers and agricultural workers in Ghana and is an affiliate of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF). Their successful organizing and advocacy has stopped and prevented thousands of cases of child labor, and expanded educational opportunities for children in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire. Their strategy builds on two key intersectional components: responsible supply chain management across farmer cooperatives in West Africa, and community development. They work in all areas of agriculture, with emphasis on cocoa for its role in the local and global economies. Their support is far-reaching and covers wage and non-wage earners, formal and informal farming industries, and large and small farms. Since 2007, GAWU has been working on its Child Free Labor Zones (CFLZs). In these zones, they work to strengthen trade union structures and increase the wages of union members. They also work to establish schools for children coming out of child labor. They also educate farmers and fisherfolk on the idea of CLFZs and establish local unions that have Community Child Protection Committees. In 2019, they pushed through a collective bargaining agreement between GAWU and the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) protecting the welfare of cocoa farmers. Further information on GAWU is available here.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)

Sharan Burrow is an Australian trade unionist active in international advocacy on labor standards, corporate responsibility, climate change, global migration, and employment. Sharan has been the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) since her election in 2010 and re-elections in 2014 and 2018. She is the first woman to hold this position. Burrow has served in various leadership roles within unions since the 1980s, often being the first woman to hold these offices. Sharan began her career as a high school teacher, became an organizer in the NSW Teachers’ Federation, and later became president of the Bathurst Trades and Labour Council. She has continued to fill leadership positions within unions since. Sharan is regarded as one of the world’s most powerful union leaders, with ITUC representing 175 million workers in 153 countries and territories, and with 308 affiliates. She has represented workers and civil society groups in global policy discussions in United Nations bodies, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation as well as at the G20, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund. She has served as a member of the Stakeholder Council of the Global Reporting Initiative and the UN Global Commission on International Migration. These days, she is active in the fight to ensure workers receive a greater share of national income during the pandemic. More information about Sharan is available here.

2020 Online GLJ-ILRF Labor Rights Defenders Awards Ceremony

Please register online to join us here at our first digital Labor Rights Defenders Awards Celebration.  For the last eleven years, this event has brought together leaders and activists from the labor movement along with allies from the women’s, migrant, human rights and social movements. Together and stronger than ever as Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), we are looking forward to the 2020 GLJ-ILRF Online Labor Rights Defenders Awards Ceremony on October 1st from 6-7:30pm ET where we will honor and uplift those on the front lines of transforming the global economy and fight for labor justice globally.

Our four honorees in 2020 are: 

• Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), for her visionary leadership of the ITUC including the passage of the groundbreaking ILO Convention on the elimination of gender-based violence and harassment and the advancement of a social contract for all workers.
• Lorretta Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, for her leadership of the American Federation of Teachers and her lifetime dedication to advancing the rights of educators and children in the U.S. and globally.
• The Chicago Teachers Union for leading a movement of students, families, and workers in our school communities to create change across our city and guide the future and for showing us how to fight and win.
• The General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana (GAWU) for their work to end child labor and organize and advocate for decent work in the cocoa sector.

We can't wait for you to join us in celebrating these incredible leaders and organizations!

In Solidarity, 

Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum 

Executive Director, GLJ-ILRF

1634 I St NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20006, USA | +1 (202) 347-4100
www.globallaborjustice.org | www.laborrights.org