Labor is Not a Commodity

Changes at the IMF: Window dressing or the change we need?

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

As finance ministers from the G-20 nations prepare to meet in London, reports are emerging that Western nations are ready to accept some proposals for an increase in power for developing countries in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  The Washington Post stated this morning that "the big winner will be the developing world, with the United States, Europe and Japan offering China, India, Brazil and other emerging nations unprecedented new influence in global financial decisions."  The notion that industrialized nations currently holding sway in the IMF have to ability to "offer" developing countries a voice in the lending policies that deeply affect their economies highlights some of the power imbalances within international financial institutions -- it also brings to mind Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's controversial comments last week about the global economic crisis.

The issue of representation in the decision-making bodies at the IMF is a real concern.  Currently, Europe holds a third of the chairs in the executive board and continues to follow the "tradition" of filling the managing director position with a European while the US has veto power at the IMF due to its large voting share.  The power structure at the IMF, and other international institutions, needs to be changed, but the bigger question is how will these changes can result in a qualitative shift that promotes policies that support poor and working people globally?

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire 98th Year Anniversary

Trina Tocco, Deputy Director, International Labor Rights Forum

March 25th was the 98th anniversary of the unforgettable Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire which is often framed as one of the key events that resulted in extensive changes to U.S. law and enforcement in garment factories.  This fire also helped to build the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union which is known today as UNITE.

The summary of this important event is that 148 people died in 1911 from this disaster because the fire exits were locked.  The owners were able to make it up to the roof and ended up surviving.  This was the 2nd major disaster in New York City's history.

This is a great photo montage on YouTube

The G20 Summit and Unions

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Next week, representatives of G-20 governments will be meeting in London to discuss strategies for addressing the global economic crisis.  As working people around the world are facing the consequences of this crisis, unions are responding with their own proposals for the G-20.

This Monday, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released a "London Declaration" that focuses on five key policy recommendations for the G-20:

• a coordinated international recovery and sustainable growth plan to create jobs and ensure public investment;
• nationalization of insolvent banks and new financial regulations;
• action to combat the risk of wage deflation and reverse decades of increasing inequality;
• far-reaching action on climate change;
• a new international legal framework to regulate the global economy along with reform of the global financial and economic institutions (IMF, World Bank, OECD, WTO).

The Abuse of the Peruvian Women in the Asparagus Industry

Matias Mangas, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Peru is the world’s largest exporter of asparagus because extraordinary climate conditions (U.S. Department of Agriculture 2005), its favorable geographic location, and the advances made in its management of water supply for irrigation, has allowed the country to achieve the highest asparagus crop yields in the world. Furthermore, the asparagus industry in Peru is expected to hire nearly 60,000 people, and has permitted regions of the country, such as Ica and La Libertad, to become examples of economic development and sources for job creation. The Asociación de Gremios Productores y Agroexportadores del Perú (AGAP) - Peruvian Coalition of Agro export Associations - estimates that the Peruvian agro export chain as a whole has generated 600,000 jobs, three times more than were generated in traditional agricultural sectors.(Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture 2004)

Organizing across the Caribbean

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

As unions in France launch another major strike, workers in the French "overseas departments" in the Caribbean have also launched massive struggles for economic justice. 

A 44-day general strike in Guadeloupe ended on March 5th when unions signed a deal with authorities  to increase wages and other improvements.  The strike was launched by a coalition of organizations, especially trade unions on the island and was in part sparked by low wages and the high cost of food and other basic necessities.  Guadeloupe is technically part of France and the European Union, but there is about 23 percent unemployment (more than twice mainland France's rate) and the cost of living is very high for the mostly poor population.  The struggle was also against a system of exploitation on the island where descendants of white former plantation owners control many of the businesses and positions of power.  As the activists celebrated their victory, they clearly remained ready to take action if the agreement was not implemented and to take their struggle further.  Elie Domota, a leader of the Liyannaj Kont Pwofitasyon (LKP) coalition that led the strike, said, "Today, our struggle has paid off... We must remain mobilized and continue to fight."  It seems that the employers' association is already reinterpreting parts of the agreement and there is concern that the French government might try to target Domota as a leader of the union movement.

Sometimes, all it takes is one person wanting to do the right thing

By Shanika Yapa, communications intern, International Labor Rights Forum

When I was fifteen, I thought life couldn’t get any more miserable because I had to sit for my first big government exam. Our daily helper’s daughter was convinced her life couldn’t get any more exciting since she was starting her first job. It was at a garment factory. She was one of the blessed ones who had a pretty decent experience working in a factory in the third world. Regrettably, she’s among the minority of women workers who are that fortunate.

Having grown up in one of the less-privileged countries in the world, the dire poverty many individuals face isn’t surprising. I understand that, for most of them, it’s a choice between starving on the roads or working in sweatshops and making some money. The harsh work environments don’t stop many of them from working in sweatshops since they are left with no other choice.

Tales of a Union Organizer: Why we need EFCA now!

By Eva Seidelman, ILRF Program Assistant

The Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in Congress on Monday and I'd like to use the occasion to tell the story of why Congress must pass it now! 'I’ve found that to the average person, even if they support unions, EFCA may seem somewhat baffling. Some serious liberals even buy into the right wing argument that "secret ballots" and NLRB elections are important to preserve.

That’s understandable in theory, but when you experience an old-fashion union organizing drive in this era, you’ll understand the barriers workers face under current labor law.  Here's the real secret about secret ballots:  employers use such brutal  tactics to prevent workers from organizing, that workers forming a union are often defeated before they even file for an union election.

In 2007, I was assigned to organize workers at a nursing home in California, as part of a coordinated strategy to organize various facilities in the region owned by the same company.

My First Time at a Rally (and doing a workshop)

By Adriane Chavarria, high school intern, International Labor Rights Forum

For the first time I was asked to attend a conference at Swarthmore College for high school students to do a workshop.  The conference was put on by United Students Against Sweatshops as part of their broader work to work with high school students. This workshop was about the Fairness in Flowers campaign of the International Labor Rights Forum.

My day started off with a great discussion with hotel workers. Afterwards I participated in an Action to support the hotel workers. We had to go to a hotel and march for the rights of the hotel workers. While I was doing this, I was really nervous having to yell and chant.  Once having gone around the block I started to adjust to my surroundings and realized that everybody here was on the same side supporting the same issue.  This put me at ease and I started to chant with no hesitation. I really felt accomplished after looking pass my shyness.  All the students went back on the vans and headed home after attending the action.  We went into a room to talk about what we had just did and how we felt about it and if we would like to do it again or not. We pretty much debriefed about what went on in the action.

China's Unemployment Pressures

By Manfred Elfstrom, ILRF Program Officer

As the World Bank is predicting the first contraction in worldwide economic growth since World War II, China is focusing on creating jobs at home. Fast.  As the headline of an article in the English-language China Daily blared yesterday, “Job #1 for NPC: Employment.”  “NPC” stands for the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, which is at this moment holding its annual meeting alongside the advisory CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee) in Bejiing. 

The employment situation in China is grim.  On February 2, 2009, Chen Xiwen of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, a government advisory body, said that as many as 26 million migrant workers “are now coming under pressures for employment.” China Daily quoted Professor Chen Guangjin of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as putting the unemployment rate for new college graduates at “over 12 percent” on December 16, 2008.  During a January presentation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Pieter Bottelier predicted that in 2009 an estimated 47-53 million non-agricultural workers will compete for 6-7 million jobs in the non-agricultural sector.

Labor Rights are Women's Rights

By Briana Connors, intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Today is International Women’s Day, and I think it’s important for all of us to take a moment to remember how closely interlinked women’s rights and worker’s rights are.  According to the AFL-CIO, women make up more than 40 percent of the global labor force, working in fields and factories, offices, schools, governments, communities, and homes. Nearly every sector benefits from the hard work of women.  Every day women care for their families and communities, a job that often goes unrecognized. And yet, despite women’s enormous contributions to economies and communities around the world, they still remain one of the most vulnerable groups to harassment and discrimination in the workplace.