Labor is Not a Commodity

Interning with ILRF: A day in the life

By Sasha Frankel, ILRF intern

When I came into the office this morning, I had two projects awaiting me.  In order to build ILRF’s contact database to be able to fundraise, I had to enter contact information from a number of business cards that ILRF staff had amassed over the past couple months.  This was a job that rolled over from my last day’s work: the number of business cards showed the amount of interest in ILRF’s activities and also the diversity of sectors with whom ILRF works: labor unions, NGOs, fair trade companies, and individuals were all entered into our system.  Yes, you will soon be receiving mail from us pleading that you help us continue doing the work we’re doing.

After I finished with the pile of business cards, I started to work on a more long-term project that I’ll be concentrating on through the duration of my time with ILRF, that is, until finals begin.  In the next month I’m going to be working on the FoulBall campaign which is identifying those companies who sell soccer balls that are supplied through sub-contractors who use child labor to produce them.  For someone like me who has played soccer her entire life, this campaign connects one of my passions to my work with ILRF and child labor.  I’m looking forward to possibly working with NCAA and MLS to make sure those companies from whom they buy their soccer balls are supplied by subcontractors who employ workers in conditions that meet international standards. 

Of EFCA, ACORN and the Real America

Bama Athreya, Executive Director, International Labor Rights Forum

We are a non-partisan organization, and we don’t mean to suggest that any of our readers take our comments as an endorsement of either political party this Presidential campaign season.  We’ve spoken to audiences of all kinds in red states and blue states and been so touched by the broad sympathy for the plight of child workers and sweatshop workers among audiences of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, economic situations and personal experiences.  However, we were as offended as real Americans everywhere at the recent statement of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, echoed by several Republican party officials, suggesting that those of us who live and work in urban areas don’t count in our democracy.  This is consistent with the recent substantive attacks of Republican candidates on community organizers, principally our friends at ACORN, and on workplace organizers, embodied in attacks on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

Someone needs to stand up for the principles under attack here, principles which, we thought, crossed partisan political lines.  ACORN has its problems.  EFCA is not a magic bullet.  However, both seek to promote a principle that is essential to the fiber of our democracy.

Get ready for a fair Halloween!

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Halloween is still a few days away, but the excitement for Reverse Trick-or-Treating is already building!  Check out this great video from the United Methodist Church which follows Devin Tharp of Wisconsin and his family who will be participating in this fun event. 

On Halloween, the Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign mobilizes thousands of young people in the U.S. and Canada to give fair trade chocolate and information about social and environmental issues in cocoa production to the houses where they go trick-or-treating.  You can find out more information here.

While the deadline to order a campaign kit has passed for this year, you can still download these flyers which you can distribute on Halloween.  Here is a flyer which you can use to decorate your trick-or-treating bag.

Here is some more advance press coverage:

"Kids carry conscience in a bag of goodies"

"Faith based groups promote fair trade Halloween"
"Shakopee family to practice 'reverse trick or treating'"

Immigration and the Election

Beth Myers, Executive Director, STITCH

Much has been said and written about immigration over the past two years and many thought it would be a major issue in the 2008 election. However, the collapse in the economy has basically taken this topic off the table. Looking at the reality of our economy and the demographics of the country, it is inevitable that immigration reform will have to happen during the first term of the new president, probably in the first year. We can not continue with the current broken systems, as it punishes a variety of workers across the board, no matter their status. With that in mind, it’s important to not only look at the candidates positions, but also the positions of the two major parties to get a better understanding of how our new immigration policy may look this time next year.

 

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4!

Below are the candidates’ policy statements and party platforms of the Republican and Democratic Parties.

Ex-slave in Niger wins landmark case

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Yesterday, a West African court found the government of Niger guilty of failing to protect Hadijatou Mani from slavery.  Twenty-four year old Mani was sold to a man at the age of 12 for the equivalent of $500 to carry out domestic work and was forced to "marry" her master.  Mani was raped and physically abused until local human rights organizations with the support of Anti-Slavery International helped her receive a "liberation certificate" in 2005.  When Mani attempted to marry another man, she was eventually charged with bigamy and sentenced to six months in prison.  Mani took her case to the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Court of Justice and the court ruled in her favor and ordered the government of Niger to  $19,750 to Mani.

Inside the SweatFree Dallas Campaign

By Laurel Moran, SweatFree Dallas volunteer

When you think of Dallas, TX, you’re not likely to think of labor activism. But Dallas is now home to the burgeoning SweatFree Dallas campaign. I found out about the SweatFree Dallas campaign several months ago and started attending meetings. Volunteers are students, members of local labor organizations, immigrant advocates, peace and justice activists, religious activists and other citizens. Now that we volunteers have learned how the campaign will work and done some basic research into the City of Dallas procurement policies, we are focusing on building community awareness and support. We are now working to gather endorsements from local labor, religious, and community organizations and businesses so that we can move on to the next step—approaching Dallas city council members—early next year.

Advice for the Next Administration: Listen

By Sasha Frankel, ILRF intern

In a panel discussion moderated by the Washington Office on Latin America yesterday morning, panelists representing both civil society and the US government weighed in on the biggest challenges that will face the new president concerning policy toward Latin America.  Panelists and audience members alike made observations about the current state of relations with Latin America, what obstacles there are to overcome, and various considerations as to how these obstacles could be dealt with, or, maybe more importantly, whether the United States should be dealing with them at all.

The four panelists, Joy Olson from WOLA, Peter DeShazo from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Julia Sweig from the Council on Foreign Relations, and Peter Hakim of the Inter-American Dialogue were all in consensus on several of the issues discussed.  Firstly, they agreed that public opinion of the US in Latin America in the past eight years has deteriorated, mostly due to US action outside of Latin America, notably the war in Iraq and Guantanamo.  Also in consensus was the concern of US exceptionalism: Ms. Olson said that the best way for the US to have an impact on reducing poverty, increasing equality, and respecting human and labor rights is to deal with the problem domestically, in order to use ourselves as the example and build legitimacy.  This is especially true regarding Guantanamo: everyone who spoke stated explicitly that one of the best ways to begin that process of rebuilding relations with the region would be to shut down Guantanamo Bay.

Dole Pineapples: Economic Growth for Whom?

Haley Wrinkle, ILRF intern

Today ILRF is releasing a report on labor abuses in the global pineapple industry. We are concurrently tackling this issue from a trade perspective at the US Trade Representative (USTR).

ILRF is asking the USTR today that multinational Dole Foods not be given requested GSP benefits for its pineapple products exported from the Philippines.  The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a US trade preference program that was established with the intent of fostering economic development.  While Dole’s expansion in the Philippines will certainly lead to economic growth, the critical question is: growth for whom?

View ILRF's Full Pre-Hearing Brief

Up to this point it has chiefly been Dole itself, along with wealthy landlords, which have benefited from the corporation’s operations in the Philippines.  Dole Foods is a fortune 500 company privately owned by billionaire David Murdock, and has netted an average of $45.4 million in profits annually over the last ten years.¹  In contrast, little of the wealth generated by the corporation has gone to its farmworkers, who continue to labor in sweatshop-like conditions in the fields making poverty level wages.  Contractual Pineapple harvesters who labor for Dole are paid on average a mere US $1.86 per day, nearly three times less than the Filipino minimum wage.²  The cost-savings provided by more duty free access to U.S. consumers will likely enrich Dole far more than its workers.

Support Congo Action Week!

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Students all around the world are "breaking the silence" about the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of Congo Action Week taking place from October 19th to the 25th under the lead of Friends of the Congo.  Local organizers will be educating their communities about the conflict which has killed an estimated 6 million people since 1996 and participate in a global teach-in. 

One aspect of the situation which is currently gaining more attention is the role that Congo's rich natural resources are playing in funding the conflict.  DRC is a major source for many minerals, like coltan, which is used in electronics like cell phones and even Playstations.  In addition to the connection with funding conflict, labor rights abuses, including child labor and forced labor, have been widely reported in the production of these minerals.  Part of Congo Action Week will be a "Cell Out" which is a cell phone usage boycott on Wednesday, October 22nd from 12pm to 6pm to protest resource exploitation in the Congo.  Click here to get details on how to participate.

Shopping with a Conscience

By Marissa Greenwood, ILRF intern

Season after season, trends change; women stop wearing the dress from a month ago, the jeans from two weeks ago, and the shoes that haven’t even seen the light of day. Like fashion trends, the issues we care about arguably change too often. Like our dresses, jeans, and shoes, we change our concerns. One day we’ll be wear a t-shirt to stop the genocide in Darfur, the next we’ll be watching Blood Diamond and then we’ll polish off the week by buying our compact fluorescent light bulbs and organic cotton sweaters. It’s interesting, like fashion, people are fickle in what issues they choose to support.

One concern with fashion that should never be just a trend is ensuring that what we choose to wear is made in a sweatshop-free environment. This is a difficult task, considering, the vastness of the industry and the lack of information about the sources of the clothes. Luckily, a couple of organizations have done some of the work for you! Every year ILRF teams up with Sweatfree Communities and Sweatshop Watch to release the Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide. The Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide is a listing of stores that sell wares that are entirely “made by workers organized into democratic unions or worker-owned cooperatives.” Each of the companies listed in the guide underwent a rigorous application process to guarantee that each of them meet the criteria necessary for the guide.