Long-term project partnerships create meaningful international alliances and sustainable development for workers and marginalized communities. The Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF) marked ten years of working with the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), empowering forestry workers and local unions across India.
This alliance has connected Canadian union activists from the USW national Wood Council with BWI India local affiliates that represent millions of informal workers in the forestry sector, “pluckers” who collect Kendu and Sal leaves (used in the fabrication of bowls and bidi cigarettes, among others) in Indian states including Gujarat, Odisha and Maharashtra. This grueling seasonal work, where women make a large portion of the workforce, has become increasingly challenging due to changing weather and rising temperatures. With support from the SHF, BWI India’s affiliate unions have successfully enrolled and regularized thousands of informal workers into state welfare boards and social benefits trusts. These efforts have provided direct financial assistance to support the livelihoods of rural Indian families and mitigate economic insecurity.
BWI India has also led efforts to achieve critical improvements in occupational workplace health and safety (OHS). The project funded by the SHF has integrated climate justice into its labour education activities, empowering workers to organize against escalating environmental hazards like extreme heat stress and to join a broader international workers’ rights campaign – Too Hot to Work. In sectors like forestry or construction, where informal workers face inadequate workplace safety protections that can lead to tragic occupational fatalities, belonging to a union and receiving OHS training makes a life-or-death difference.
To witness firsthand the long-term impacts of these efforts, a group of seven Canadians from the USW Wood Council and SHF travelled to India in October 2025. The delegation visited several parts of the country, interacting directly with nursery plantation workers, local forestry supervisors, and participating in a meeting with over a hundred Kendu leaf pluckers. Delegates also met with a leading women’s rights organization, visited painting trades programs and a school founded to eradicate child labour practices in rural communities. Delegations like this give USW members an opportunity to see how global solidarity is put into action and to reflect on the common struggles faced by workers worldwide.
Article from the SHF 2025 Annual Report.
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