TUC Aid: almost 40 years of international solidarity in action

For nearly four decades, TUC Aid has stood as a beacon of international solidarity supporting workers, building strong unions, and fighting for justice across the globe.

Since 1988, TUC Aid has worked with trade unions in the Global South to champion workers’ rights, gender equality, decent jobs, quality public services, and human rights in the toughest environments.

Now, as TUC Aid prepares to close at the end of 2025, we celebrate a powerful legacy, one of real political change, where stronger unions, fairer workplaces, and empowered workers are the lasting results of international cooperation and solidarity.

Empowering women workers, building inclusive unions

One of TUC Aid’s most transformative achievements has been empowering women in the workplace and within unions.

In Nigeria, TUC Aid worked with the Nigerian Labour Congress to train 700 officials on gender equality.  This led to a rise in female participation and leadership in the union movement.

A project with the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) in Bangladesh trained women in negotiation, labour law, and dealing with problems at work. Women workers used these skills to address gender-based violence and safety issues in the garment industry.  

Meanwhile a TUC Aid project in Iraq with the General Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions (GFITU) organised training which led to more women joining unions, becoming leaders, and challenging workplace and domestic violence.

Defending human and trade union rights

TUC Aid also ran projects with workers standing up for human rights, workers’ rights and democracy in hostile environments.  

In Guatemala, it helped the banana workers’ union SITRABI break a deadly cycle of anti-union violence. The project supported organising, training, and lobbying to hold employers accountable for abuses of human and trade union rights.  As a result, SITRABI was able to set up the region’s first sustainable banana union in 2024.

TUC Aid supported FESTU, the national trade union centre in Somalia, to challenge the Somali government about the human and trade union abuses taking place in the country.

Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone post-civil war, TUC Aid supported capacity building of unions which meant workers could once again organise and advocate for their rights after years of conflict.

Workers' rights and global trade justice

TUC Aid also stood up against unfair trade deals that threatened jobs and rights.

It worked with the East Africa TUC (EATUC) to support union campaign against unfair trade deals with the UK, EU, and US.   In Kenya, union action led the government to delay the UK-Kenya trade deal to while it engaged with workers on their concerns.

In Cameroon, TUC Aid – working with ITUC-Africa, TUUT Charitable Trust, and NASUWT - helped unions in Cameroon influence the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade and connect with unions across Africa. This increased the pressure for the agreement to promote decent jobs.  

What next?

“TUC Aid has delivered 37 years of practical solidarity in action … putting internationalism into practice supporting workers across the globe” Paul Nowak, General Secretary (2025).

Though TUC Aid is closing, its spirit lives on. The TUC will continue working with sister unions around the world to uphold the values that TUC Aid championed: workers’ rights, gender equality, global justice, and democracy.

Read more in TUC Aid (1988 – 2025): a celebration of international solidarity in action.