Labor is Not a Commodity

Government Purchasing Policy Forum in Washington, DC

Brett Eisenbrown, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

The use of sweatshops to produce the goods we consume is not the exception but, unfortunately, it is the rule.  While the very idea of people having to endure such working conditions in order to try and provide for themselves and their families is deplorable, the idea that our tax dollars are being used to support sweatshop conditions only increases the injustice of the situation.  Unfortunately, it is true that our tax dollars are supporting sweatshops, poverty wage jobs in our economy, and employers that continually violate the rights of workers worldwide. 

It was the issue of public procurement and ending the use of taxpayer dollars to fund sweatshops, both domestically and internationally, that was central to the Policy Forum held on November 6th.  The Policy Forum, entitled Strengthening Core Labor Standards through Public Procurement Reform, was sponsored by U.S. Representatives Mike Michaud and Phil Hare and organized by SweatFree Communities (SFC) and the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF).  In addition, the forum was the first event held for the National SweatFree Summit that started November 6th and ran until November 8th in Washington, DC.  

Assassination of Farmworker Organizer Santiago Rafael and the FLOC Campaign to Organize Tobacco Workers in the Southern US

Jade Batstone, intern, International Labor Rights Forum
 
 A briefing took place on November 5th at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C regarding the assassination of Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). member Santiago Rafael in 2007. FLOC President, and newly elected AFL-CIO executive committee member, Baldemar Velasquez spoke about how his organization seeks justice for this heinous crime as well as actions FLOC is currently taking to bring about justice for Reynolds Tobacco field workers in the southern US. The organizing of tobacco workers around the world is absolutely essential in creating a secure livelihood for tobacco workers in Mexico, Malawi and the US.  In addition, ILRF has long targeted the tobacco industry as an industry that uses child labor.  Also attending the event was Leonel Rivero, the Mexican human rights lawyer providing council for Rafeal’s family and FLOC. Rivero discussed the obstacles to working on this case given government and police corruption on the Mexican side.

Rachel Maddow takes on corporations defending child and forced labor

Tim Newman, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum

Recently, Rachel Maddow picked up on an article written by David Sirota about how business groups are lobbying against provisions in a customs bill that contains provisions banning the importation of goods produced by convict labor, forced labor or forced or indentured child labor.  Check out the video below (and there's a transcript here).

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What does Kraft's proposed takeover of Cadbury mean for workers?

Tim Newman, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum

The businesses world is buzzing over the news that Kraft has made a hostile takeover bid for Cadbury.  For weeks, there has been plenty of back and forth between the two companies in the media and Kraft finally placed its $16.3 billion bid for Cadbury before shareholders today.  Cadbury continued to object to the proposal and stated that Kraft was undervaluing the company.  Kraft now has 28 days to outline the offer and then has an additional 60 days to line up enough shareholders to approve the deal.

One of the major shareholders who will definitely play a role in whether or not the takeover is successful will be Warren Buffett, who is Kraft's largest shareholder.  Since Buffett is not exactly a friend of workers and Kraft is not a model for industrial relations, workers should be concerned about the impact of the changes at Cadbury.

Central American Labor Groups Share Challenges

Central American Labor Representatives Gather to Discuss Shared Challenges

By Jeremy Silva, ILRF Intern

Representatives from Central American labor and human rights organizations came to the U.S. on November 4th to testify in front of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of the Regional Campaign Against Labor Flexibility. At the hearing, the campaign presented various cases demonstrating a systematic assault on workers’ basic labor rights throughout Central America. Before testifying on Friday, nine representatives covering all 6 countries in Central America gathered last Thursday at the AFL-CIO to share their struggles and develop strategies for the region. The discussion was sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center, WOLA and the ILRF.   While representatives detailed the unique cases of labor rights violations within their own countries, all agreed that a general failure to enforce labor rights existed throughout Central America as a result of almost universally deficient justice systems. 

Lipton Temporary Workers Gain Permanent Status!

Jeremy Silva, ILRF intern

We at ILRF were thrilled to hear that the long-running campaign by workers at the Unilever/Lipton tea factory in Khanewal has resulted in a successful settlement.  200 workers have received permanent employment and back wages, as a result of which they will receive livable wages and better job security.  The struggles and perseverance of the Pakistani workers drew a number of international groups to their side, including the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), the Dutch Decent Work campaign, the Tropical Commodity Coalition, the Center for Research on International Corporations, the India Committee of the Netherlands and the MVO Platform.  

Another Drummond Worker Dies on the Job

Eva Seidelman, ILRF Program Assistant                        

The La Loma coal mine owned by the Alabama based company, Drummond, is a major danger zone for workers. On October 30, 2009, yet another worker died on the job due to a work accident, the third death at a Drummmond owned-mine since March 2009. 16 workers producing for Drummond have died within the short period Drummond has maintained operations in Colombia.

Luis Eduardo Manrriquez, a 37 years old father had worked for just 3 months as a welder for Drummond's contractor, H L Ingenieros before falling to his death. Drummond is yet again, refusing to claim responsibility for the worker's death under the grounds that Manrriquez was not a direct employee of Drummond. Drummond is clearly taking advantage of the Colombia's anti-worker climate where labor  subcontracting is a pervasive way for corporations to evade accountability with regards to worker rights.

Additionally, Drummond is actively engaged in a battle against the union representing its' workers, Sintraminergetica. In March of 2009, 4000 workers peacefully protested poor and precarious working conditions at Drummond owned mines. The strike was called as a worker had just died on the job and Fenoco, Drummond's coal transport contractor, was refusing to negotiate a labor proposal (CBA) despite its' legal obligation to bargain with 600 union members. The strike was deemed illegal and Fenoco brought in the Colombian National Guard to violently attack workers. Drummond initially refused to move Fenoco towards negotiations.  In addition, Drummond suspended and/or fired at least 9 workers in retaliation for the strike at its mines.

For its part, Fenoco (which is partially owned by Drummond) illegally fired 25 workers, 8 of whom were union leaders. The U.S. based United Steel Workers union (USW) have
been informing Secretary of State Clinton of Drummond's actions against workers in hopes that the U.S. government will put pressure on both the Colombian Government and the profitable U.S. company, Drummond to end labor rights violations.

Electronics Industry has Difficulty Enforcing Labor Laws

By Evelyn Holt, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Do you know where your computer came from? Most likely not. Parts are manufactured and assembled all over the world, and labor protections are hard to identify and track.  ILRF has also done research and campaigning on the substances such as coltan that is used in every cell phone and computer.



This year is the 5th anniversary of the formation of the electronics industry code of conduct. The Mexican Electronic Industry National Workers Coalition led by CEREAL is speaking out against corporations that still violate basic labor rights in their manufacturing plants.  Two other organizations that are leaders in the movement to hold the electronics industry accountable: makeITfair which is sponsored by the Dutch labor union SOMO has published many hard hitting reports on the lagging electronics industry and GoodElectronics Network that works to contribute to human rights and sustainability in the global electronics sector.

Thoughts from Kenya: It is time for a workers bailout!

By Steve O. Akoth, Labour Awareness and Resource Centre

When reports appeared in the media two years ago detailing failure in mortgage repayments in the United States, the government of Kenya alongside many others in Africa, claimed that that was a US affair.  The treasury bureaucrats and politicians were quick to reassure Kenyans that our economy was safe.  In fact, new projections of 2% annual growth were given.  But this was nothing more than the usual political talk show and regular political performance that is not uncommon in Kenya.

Our government, rather than deceive us, should appreciate that Kenyan workers know that they are part of a huge interconnected web.  When a small scale farmer in Tigoni plants runner beans to sell to Homegrown for instance, she knows that the beans shall end up in the supermarket of Mars and Spencer in the United Kingdom.  For that reason, the farmer is interested and is affected by the purchasing power of a consumer in the UK.  Similarly, a worker on the stitching line in an Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Ruaraka, knows that the garment shall be sold off through Wal-Mart's shelves.  The workers are therefore invested in the purchasing power of the average American who wants to buy a "cheap" designer garment from Wal-Mart.  So the shrinking global market and the resulting economic nationalism in the northern countries in the name of bailout is an important subject for the worker in Kenya and trade unions engaged in Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) discussions in Kenya.  In the long run, it is the working poor who experience the recession most, it does not matter whether it starts in China or the US.

Dole Food Company Goes Public: The Importance of Socially Responsible Investing

By Jeremy Silva, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Dole Food Company Inc. released a $500 million initial public equity offering (IPO) today.  By becoming a public company, Dole will be required to make its corporate governance more transparent and accessible to the public by providing institutional investors and individual shareholders with the opportunity to become stakeholders in Dole’s policies and practices worldwide.  For concerned investors, Dole’s IPO represents an unprecedented opportunity to review and revise the more questionable policies of the company.  This blog is the fourth blog in this series of exposing Dole and its history of labor rights violations.  You can read the other blogs here, here and here.

ILRF has taken this opportunity to engage with investors, NGOs, and unions to send a letter to Dole expressing our concerns related to its labor rights violations.  The letter was sent to Dole yesterday and included over 35 organizations including International Labor Rights Forum, CREA: Center for Reflection, Education and Action, Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility, Harrington Investments, and Domini Social Investments, Trillium Asset Management, and Green America.  You can read the press release here.  An except of the letter is below:

"We would like to take this opportunity to raise some of our human rights and labor rights concerns in relation to Dole’s supply chain practices in hopes of contributing to the future long-term success of Dole as a responsible corporate actor.  In addition to our concern for those individuals affected by Dole’s activities, we are also concerned that alleged breaches of workers’ rights throughout Dole’s corporate supply chain may impact long term shareholder value.

"While Dole claims adherence to high social standards, we are concerned by credible reports such as “The Sour Taste of Pineapple: How an Expanding Export Industry Undermines Workers and Their Communities” and “A Valentine’s Day Report: Worker Justice and Basic Rights on Flower Plantations in Colombia and Ecuador” by the International Labor Rights Forum claiming that Dole has pursued management practices that subject many of Dole’s workers throughout its global supply chain to sub-standard working conditions."