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A Worker's Guide to Health and Safety
At the request of workers and concerned activists who are organizing to improve conditions in sweatshops and factories around the world, Hesperian is developing A Worker's Guide to Health and Safety. Easy-to-read and heavily illustrated, this guide will assist workers, labor unions and worker support groups improve workplace conditions and secure greater rights and benefits for those on the front lines of globalization. In addition to addressing the occupational health hazards common to most low-wage manufacturing industries, the manual will focus significant attention on "social hazards" such as sexual harassment and other gender-related abuses, child labor, poverty wages and human and labor rights violations.
A Worker's Guide to Health and Safety will offer the following tools:
- Comprehensive information about health and safety risks faced in common EPZ industries
- Analysis of underlying structural problems that affect the workplace and workers' health, such as exploitation and gender discrimination
- Suggested steps that workers can take to protect themselves
- Examples of successful strategies other workers have used to organize for change
As with all Hesperian projects, a grassroots network of international unions, human rights advocates, labor organizers, workers and community leaders is involved in every aspect of this book. Their involvement helps ensure that the material is accessible and useful to workers in a variety of cultural and workplace settings. In the hands of a worker activist or organizer, A Worker's Guide to Health and Safety will be an invaluable resource in their efforts to develop sustained campaigns against workplace exploitation locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Related Materials
- A major section of this new book is now available in the Free Downloads section of this site.
- Long-time Hesperian partner, el Comité Fronterizo de Obreras (Border Committee of Women Workers), a grassroots organization on the US-Mexico border that supports union democracy and workers rights was featured on our blog. Read here.
Donate now!
We depend on the support of people like you, who share our vision of a healthier and more just world. Your gift will enable this book to be developed and distributed to communities around the world that otherwise could not afford it. Your actions make a difference. Please give online or call Khanh Pham at (510) 845-1447 to make a donation over the phone.
