Labor is Not a Commodity

Oil palm worker's physical vulnerability

By Diana Carolina Vega Higuera, Bogotá Regional Intern, US Labor Education in the Americas Project

Bogotá, Colombia- Carlos is a twenty-year-old young man, who worked in the African oil palm plantations as a harvester. After working there for two years, he had an accident and the company refused to recognize it as an occupational injury. Shortly afterward, he was fired for poor performance at work. Since then, his dream of joining the army was truncated because he was injured for life.

There are many other similar cases like Carlos’. All of these demonstrate the vulnerable situation of oil palm workers, who after an accident at work, must fight for job relocation, or compensation for the occupational accident. The injuries vary case by case, ranging from lumbar injuries, to carpal tunnel syndrome, to vision loss. All of these diminish and degrade their quality and standard of living.

In some cases the accident is recognized; however the medical diagnosis does not reach the percentage required for compensation or disability pay (medical declaration that the worker has lost 50% of his/her working capacity and over).

Global Advocacy Days 2010: Advocates From Across the Country Descend on Capitol Hill in an Effort to Re-Abolish the Slave Trade

By Maggie Smith, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Today, I am still recovering from two intense but satisfying days of advocacy organized by the Not For Sale campaign, a non-profit organization that “equips and mobilizes Smart Activists to deploy innovative solutions to re-abolish slavery in their own backyards and across the globe.”  Their goal: to end slavery in our life time. 

I have a feeling that there are more than a few of you reading this and thinking, RE-abolish slavery?  Slavery?!  What on earth is she talking about?!  Yes, it is a shocking and unfortunate realization for most, when they learn that modern-day slavery, know as human trafficking, not only exists today, but is thriving.  Although slavery is legal nowhere, it is happening everywhere.  Fact: there are more than 27 million people are forced to work in the world today.  It is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world – a nine billion dollar industry, according to the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST).  In fact, the global labor trade of today is larger than the trans-Atlantic slave trade of the 18th and 19th century was at its height.

Prominent Environmental Lawyer speaks about Stop Firestone Campaign

By: Jessica Jones, Administrative Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Alfred Brownell, Liberian Environment Justice Lawyer, recently visited the Institute for Policy Studies to discuss Firestone Tire and Rubber Company's domination and oppression that has gripped the Liberian people for generations and how the the nonprofit sector can assist to end this reign of power. 

Brownell stated “there is no way to talk about democratic social reform…there is no way anyone can think about addressing those issues without thinking about Firestone.” Firestone has, for the last 82 years, entrenched itself deeply into Liberia’s economic, political and social structure. In a country whose average life-span is lower than 59 years (World Bank), Firestone has reaped generations that have yet to experience a life without forced labor, child labor, poor working conditions, and environmental destruction. Brownell, simply, offered the question: What kind of institutions do the Liberian people need to achieve their goals?

Rights for Working Women on International Women's Day

By Michelle Petrotta, Program Officer, International Labor Rights Forum

As the world celebrates the 100th International Women's Day, the United Nations Commission on Women is in New York, reviewing progress of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that was agreed upon in 1995.  Fifteen years after the international communities committed to take all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and the girl child, women are still not free from discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Women often make up between 70-90 percent of the total work force in export processing zones in developing countries throughout Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. While increased access to employment has provided new economic opportunities for women, the work they perform remains precarious as they are systematically denied rights to regular pay, working hours, equal pay for equal work, safe and non-hazardous work environments, and permanent contracts where their right to organize in labor unions is respected. Sexual harassment in the workplace is especially atrocious and widespread form of discrimination against women that completely impedes their economic empowerment and autonomy. Forced pregnancy tests as a pre-condition for employment are another form of discrimination that reduce a woman's ability to demand a living wage and break out of poverty. Women working in the garments, agricultural, and light manufacturing industries face overwhelming barriers as they attempt to earn a living wage to support themselves and their families.

Attend Public Hearing on DC Sweatfree Purchasing on March 23

Maggie Smith, Sweatfree DC Coordinator, International Labor Rights Forum

Join the ILRF Sweatfree DC campaign, SEIU Local 32BJ, and others in supporting responsible contracting with strong labor standards in the District NOW! 

This is your money, have your voice be heard!  On MARCH 23 at 10:30am a public hearing will be held to discuss procurement reform in DC.  This is our chance to make the case for labor standards and enforcement in all contracts with DC.  We must tell DC government that we DO NOT WANT OUR TAX DOLLARS SUPPORTING COMPANIES THAT VIOLATE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LABOR STANDARDS!  Show your support by attending the hearing or testifying on behalf of responsible contracting (written testimony, in lieu of spoken, is also encouraged)!

SIGN UP TO ATTEND THE HEARING AT www.unionvoice.org/laborrights/events/SweatfreeDC_Hearing/details.tcl.

The International Labor Rights Forum launched the Sweatfree DC Campaign on Tax Day 2009.  The campaign is calling on Mayor Fenty and our local elected officials to join the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium and pass a strong sweatfree purchasing policy to end tax dollar support for sweatshops.  A sweatfree purchasing policy would stipulate that apparel purchased by the district could not be produced using substandard labor practices, such as sweatshop labor.  The Consortium would help to enforce the policy and monitor factories here in the U.S. and abroad.

Twenty-one Locked-In Apparel Workers Die in another Factory Fire in Bangladesh

By Bjorn Claeson, Director of SweatFree Communities

How many more workers will have to pay with their lives to absorb the terrible cost of apparel companies’ low-road, bottom-price business model?

Close to 10 p.m. on Thursday, February 26, 2010, twenty-one workers died when the Garib & Garib Sweater Factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, caught fire for the second time in six months. Local news media reported thick black smoke caused by burning acrylic yarn spreading throughout the building.  Lasting nearly two hours, the fire consumed the oxygen in the air, suffocating the workers.  The smoke could not get out because the building was poorly ventilated.  Workers could not escape because exits were locked.  Fire fighters had to cut the window grills to get in, hampering rescue efforts.  The factory’s own fire-fighting equipment, they report, was "virtually useless."

Swedish news media quoted a surviving worker, Abdul Momin, who lost an aunt in the fire:

Everyone who worked on the top floor died, because the exits were locked.  All of them were women.  They were trapped and they suffocated.

Garib & Garib makes sweaters for major apparel brands and retailers, including Swedish H&M, Canadian Mark’s Work Wearhouse, and Italian Terranova.  These retailers assure consumers their brands are safe-to-buy, pointing to codes of conduct for factory suppliers, factory auditing, and ethical sourcing programs.

Time to Strike and Time for Change: The Labor Protests in Egypt and Beyond

Dingxiaozi Ding, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum
 
On the very first day of my internship at ILRF, I attended this discussion panel on labor movements in Egypt. Being Chinese, I didn’t know much of what was going on in Egypt so this event provided an opportunity for me to learn from the experts.  It was co-organized by the Solidarity Center and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr. Joel Beinin as the speaker discussed the main findings of the Solidarity Center report The Struggle for Workers for Workers Rights in Egypt (The report is available online). He was joined by Kamal Abbas, who is an Egyptian labor rights activist, and Sarah Leah Whitson, the director Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa divisions.

This event was a useful way to learn about some key issues that are related to Egypt but that also connect to some other broader issues that all workers face. 

Dr. Joel Beinin analyzed the current situation of labor rights movements in Egypt, and highlighted its roots and the implication on Egyptian society and future labor rights activities. Since 2004, Egypt has witnessed a dramatic increase in labor protests, close to 1600 incidences.

Oprah's Godiva Love Fest

Tim Newman, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum

Earlier this week, Godiva achieved a major marketing coup.  Oprah Winfrey, the so-called Queen of All Media, re-designed the set of her popular show for the day using thousands of Godiva chocolate bars.  You can check out photographs of the set online here.  There's no doubt that Godiva must have dropped quite a bit of cash to get this level of brand exposure -- and to construct the set itself.

Unfortunately, the farmers and workers who harvest the cocoa that is the primary ingredient in Godiva products -- and likely in Oprah's special set -- do not share in the luxury promoted by Godiva.  As readers of this blog are well aware, abusive child labor, forced labor and trafficking are widespread in the cocoa industry.  Recently, the Free2Work.org gave Godiva a D- rating in terms of the company's efforts to address forced and child labor in its supply chain.  That makes Godiva one of the lowest rated of major chocolate companies.  

Demand that Your Tax Dollars Don't Support Sweatshops (and learn a thing while doing it!)

Maggie Smith, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Right now, in your country’s capitol Washington, DC, community members are fighting for the rights of workers around the world.  On tax day 2009 the Sweatfree DC campaign was launched.  Its goal: to make Washington, D.C. a sweatfree city.  What is a sweatfree city?  Well I’m glad you asked.

Those of you who are common readers of Labor is the Not a Commodity probably already know what sweatfree means as well as the different campaigns that aim to create a sweatfree world.  However for those of you who don’t visit us very often, I’ll give a crash course in what sweatfree means and how many of us aim to achieve it. 

First though before I go any further I want to remind you to do three things:

• Endorse Sweatfree DC!
  
• Send a letter to Mayor Fenty urging him to support a Sweatfree Policy! 
• Join our Sweatfree DC facebook group so we can keep you up to date on the campaign
  

The “sweat” part of sweatfree refers to sweatshops.  According to the U.S. General Accounting Office a sweatshop is “an employer that violates more than one federal or state labor law governing minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, worker's compensation, or industry regulation” (Sweatfree Toolkit: “Answers to Common Questions”)  More generally though, the International Labor Rights Forum defines sweatshops as workplaces where basic worker rights are not respected.  However, these definitions fail to convey the tortuous nature of sweatshops which, for millions around the world, is a daily reality. 

Backlash Against Chevron helps to Raise Awareness about the Dangers of “Free Trade Development Models” and Corporate Accountability

By Maggie Smith, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

For many in the United States the jury is still out on whether free trade is a problem given the increasing concerns of the negative consequences.  The concepts of corporate accountability and protection for those who live, and often die, by the hands of corporations are beginning to gain traction, even within the U.S. Congress.

The case of Chevron Corporation in the Ecuadorean Amazon is a prime example. 

30,000 indigenous people living in the Ecuadorean rainforest have succesfully taken Chevron to court which, unto itself is an unprecedented victory, however having a guilty verdict levied against Chevron is not a sure thing.   As a Politico article explains, Chevron has gone to great lengths, launching massive public relation and media campaigns to try to portray and defend their side of the story.  Along with the PR and media efforts, it has launched a massive lobbying campaign which aims to prevent a ruling on the case.  One tactic it has employed on Capitol Hill is lobbying to have U.S. Trade policy, specifically the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences changed in regards to Ecuador.  The current system gives Ecuador preferential treatment for its oil exports under the 1991 Andean Trade Preference Act.  Chevron’s goal is essentially to compel the government of Ecuador to kill the case under pain of losing these preferences.