Labor is Not a Commodity

Vermont Becomes Seventh Sweatfree State

By Liana Foxvog, National Organizer, SweatFree Communities

Yesterday Vermont became the seventh “sweatfree” state in the United States when Governor Jim Douglas signed a sweatshop-free purchasing policy into law.

The Governor's signing ceremony was held at Brattleboro Union High School. Members of the student organization Child Labor Education and Action (CLEA) had initiated and led the campaign to pass the law.

Hannah Viens, a senior, said: “CLEA advocates for the human rights of child laborers and sweatshop workers. We've held conferences to educate students. Today, before the bill signing, we presented to our classmates about how the bill is a concrete way to humanize the global economy.”

Celebrate Mother's Day by Supporting Flower Workers

By Justin Lam, ILRF intern

The International Labor Rights Forum is hosting the Mother’s Day Roses Raffle to offer people throughout the United States a chance to send a special gift to a loved one while also advancing the rights of women in the Latin American rose industry.

Support Cut Flower Workers Today -- Buy a Ticket

 Each entry costs $10. With a $30 donation, participants will not only get 3 raffle entries, but ILRF will also send a fair trade chocolate bar and a special card letting a loved one know that a donation was made in their name.FOUR winners will be chosen at random from the raffle to receive a fair trade bouquet. Winning entrants will be notified by May 5 and the 4 lucky recipients will be congratulated on the ILRF website and e-newsletter on May 12.

Show your love for working mothers this Mother’s Day!

By Rachel Wallis, USLEAP

Instead of getting your mom chocolates or flowers again this year, think about making a donation in her name to support the basic rights of working mothers in Latin America. The US Labor Education in the America Project (USLEAP) has designed two beautiful Mother’s Day cards, each featuring a photo of a Colombian flower worker and her child. In exchange for a $25 donation to USLEAP’s Flower Worker Economic Justice Campaign, your mother will receive a card in the mail, with a personalized message from you inside.

Does the Pope Care about Worker’s Rights?

By Beth Myers, Executive Director of STITCH

Around Washington, D.C. this week, it’s Pope-mania with Pope Benedict XIV visiting the United States for the first time. It is an interesting time to think about the Catholic Church and worker’s rights. While the Catholic Worker movement is still going strong around the globe, does the Catholic Church still publicly take as strong of a stand in support of unions as they once did? And if they act badly towards their own workers are they putting their moral authority on this issue on the line?

No Unions for School Teachers

This week the Nation Magazine wrote about the struggle and anti-union activity that teachers in Catholic schools face when trying to organize unions in their schools. It’s a sad statement that one of the strongest supporters of unionism and worker’s rights is now trying to break the unions using company unions or just flat out not negotiating with them. Teacher’s unions are responsible for making sure that women (the majority of the members are women) are able to pass on their passion for knowledge and still make a living wage.

Read this passage from the article:

However, in recent years in other parts of the country, Catholic bishops have been busting longstanding Catholic school teachers' unions and stripping teachers of their right to unionize. In 2004, Archbishop Sean O'Malley ended thirty-six years of the Boston Archdiocese's negotiation of a single contract with the high schools by decentralizing the system and then refusing to recognize the union any longer.

Mary Chubb, a veteran Catholic school teacher, spent nearly ten years trying to gain recognition for elementary school teachers in St. Louis, Missouri.  Bishop Raymond Burke summarily killed that movement in 2004 by issuing an unequivocal written decree stating that, "Neither the Archdiocese nor individual parishes will recognize or bargain collectively with any organization as a representative of the teachers."

You can read the full article here:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080428/bonavoglia

Bush's War on Workers

Bama Athreya, Executive Director, International Labor Rights Forum

Why, exactly, is the Bush Administration in such a huge rush to pass the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and why is Speaker Pelosi getting so much flak from the news media for her delaying tactics?  It was a relief this morning to pick up my New York Times and see, finally, some careful analysis of the ongoing violence against trade unionists in Colombia, after so much media commentary suggesting this was somehow a fake issue.

The violence is real; less so the Administration's shameless use of the global security card as justification for the need for rapid passage of this agreement.

Let me raise a few points here that our readers won't get from the pages of the Wall Street Journal, or even the New York Times:

Wal-Mart Speaking Tour visits Dover, OH

By Melissa Campbell, President, USW Local 2737 in Dover, Ohio

 

It was a great privilege to be a part of hosting an event on the 2008 Wal-Mart Sweatshop Workers Speaking Tour here in Tuscarawas County. Thanks to SFC and ILRF for taking such an important issue on the road here in Ohio.

In the crowd of more than 70, there were students, teachers, immigrant community activists, union members, and local concerned citizens in attendance.

Phal Savin (second from left) and Didier Leitón (second from right), sweatshop workers from Cambodia and Costa Rica, spoke on April 9, 2008 at the Family Life Center of St. Joseph Catholic Church. They explained the hardships of low pay, retaliation, and lack of oversight for sweatshop workers around the world. Sponsored by SweatFree Communities, International Labor Rights Forum, USW District 1 and USW Local 2737, Ohio Conference on Fair Trade and the Tuscarawas Co. AFL-CIO. Read the local newspaper story here.

Sweatshop Workers Visit Goshen College

By Keith Miller, Goshen College

Just as background, Vicki Kaplan from SweatFree Communities contacted me after PR person Jodi Beyeler sent her my way. Because we have led SST (Study Service Term, an international experiential education program of Goshen College) in both Cambodia and Costa Rica, we have a continuing interest in what happens in those countries. We already were aware of some of the working conditions in fields and sweatshops (we had visited a sweatshop with SSTers in Dominican Republic years ago), and while we had talked with social service agencies who addressed workers' rights in both countries, we had not had direct, unsupervised exposure to actual laborers.

Once when we were visiting a banana plantation in Costa Rica, a crop duster flew over the grounds while we and Costa Rican workers were among the trees. I'm sure the crop duster knew workers were there, but he probably didn't know that U.S. visitors were present. We could feel the mist from whatever chemicals were being dumped, and it was frightening.

I just read that one Cambodian sweatshop union just negotiated a $6 increase in wages per month, which means workers like Phal Savin, who was here Sunday evening, will now get $56 per month for eight- to 12- hour days. Savin and other Cambodians like her spend 70 percent of their income on food. Even the most thrifty person can't leave with any comfort or security on that amount of money.

Firestone: Child Labor Continues in Liberia

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

As I mentioned recently on this blog, I just took a trip to Liberia to visit the Firestone rubber plantation and meet with workers there.  During my visit, I could see right through all the expensive public relations materials Firestone has produced to try to deflect criticism of their 82 year history of exploitation in Liberia.  Most notably, I saw children under the age of 18 working on their plantation with my own eyes -- a flagrant violation of their company policy.

Flower Worker Dora Acero Speaks on the Hill

Clarissa Pintado, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Colombian flower worker Dora Acero’s words were both eye-opening and moving at last week’s International Workers Rights Caucus Briefing, “Labor Rights in the Colombian Flower Sector.” Other speakers present were Congressman Phil Hare, Global Economic Policy Specialist Jeff Vogt of AFL-CIO and Executive Director Bama Athreya of the International Labor Rights Forum. They informed the audience of the atrocious labor and human rights violations taking place in Colombia, and explained why the Colombia Free Trade Agreement before Congress is a continuation of failed trade policy.

Sweatshop Workers Visit Govt Officials, Students, and Unions

By Vicki Kaplan, SweatFree Communities

What is it like to produce the low-cost goods that have made Wal-Mart so popular in the U.S. and around the world? It's easy to feel very distant from the workers who harvest the pineapples and sew the t-shirts; we rarely interact with them and we rarely hear about their working conditions in the news.

That's why the International Labor Rights Forum and SweatFree Communities are sponsoring the 2008 Wal-Mart Sweatshop Workers Speaking Tour. We're embarking on day 4 of the two-week tour through Ohio and Michigan.

On today's agenda:
meetings with Ohio state senators and representatives, a radio interview, and an evening community meeting in New Philadelphia, Ohio.

You can see our schedule and join us for a event by visiting www.sweatfree.org/events_workertour