Labor is Not a Commodity

The Human Cost of Greening the Supply Chain

This post originated from CSRWire.com at www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/101-The-Human-Cost-of-Greening-the-Supply-Chain-

By Conrad MacKerron, As You Sow Foundation

The greening of corporate America has a darker side that seems to tolerate dangerous conditions for workers. The emerging solar and renewable energy industries will bring green collar jobs to areas of the U.S. in desperate need of them. But corporations are still paying scant attention to the needs of the people in the global supply chain emerging markets where most manufacturing has shifted.

Let's look at the revved up Chinese economy where so many of our goods are now made. China has an occupational safety law. But it's only five years old and honored more in the breach than the observance. And it shows in the toll on workers' lives. China has the highest rate of death from work-related illnesses of any country. According to the International Labor Organization, 380,000 Chinese workers died of occupational illness in 2005 and millions more live with fatal diseases or with limbs missing from job-related accidents.

The Toyota Prius has become one of the most visible symbols of environmental consciousness. But a recent report from the National Labor Committee alleged abusive working conditions in Japanese factories assembling the Prius. The report said a third of assembly line workers are poorly paid temps, and that its parts supply chain is "riddled with sweatshop abuse", including the trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers. Many of them are working 16-hour shifts. And two years ago, Bloomberg Markets linked Toyota, GM and Ford to slave labor conditions in making the pig iron for the steel that ends up in their vehicles.

DR-CAFTA’s White Paper receives failing grade by Washington Office on Latin America

By Liz Haight, ILRF Intern

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) presented their three-year study of the impact of DR-CAFTA on May 21. The report, entitled “DR-CAFTA and Worker’s Rights: Moving from Paper to Practice” evaluates the progress in the White Paper’s recommendations for improving labor rights in the DR-CAFTA countries.

DR-CAFTA is a free trade agreement that passed in 2005 between the US and Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic joined shortly thereafter. You can check out ILRF’s webpage dedicated to CAFTA for more specifics.  It almost did not pass due to concerns over labor conditions. In fact, in 2005, ILRF testified on Capitol Hill about many concerns regarding CAFTA.  To help secure a favorable vote in the Senate, US Trade Representatives supported funds that would be used for projects to strengthen trade capacity building and labor rights practice and enforcement based on recommendations outlined in the “White Paper,” which some saw as simply a tactic to get DR-CAFTA passed in Congress.

US-African Trade Policy: A No Goer?

By Stuart Coffey, Intern, ILRF

In the past two years, ILRF has published a number of online articles on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). ILRF also sponsored a one day conference in development, trade and labor rights in sub Saharan African in January 2008 in Washington, DC.

The topic then received little attention until the election of the Obama administration and the recent unfolding of its economic, social and political agenda for Africa. In a recent article in Bloomberg the US has reportedly limited its scope in some African countries such as South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. US Trade Representative, Ron Kirk said that due to “differing views” between the US and African countries, the Obama administration will not revive talks on a free trade accord with these Southern African countries and will instead focus on implementing separate agreements to bolster economic ties. What are these “differing views” Mr. Kirk? What exactly is this about?

Workers Responding to Crisis #3: Updates from Europe, Egypt, Argentina, the US and more!

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

This the third in an occasional blog series highlighting how workers and unions around the world are analyzing the global economic crisis and fighting for economic justice.

Global

Last week, the ICEM held a meeting in Nashville, TN of world rubber union leaders.  You can check out a summary of the meeting here.  Union leaders from all over the world, including the leaders of the union on the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia, participated and a major part of the agenda was understanding our the global economic crisis is affecting the rubber industry and how unionists can work together.  Fabio Lins from Brazil’s CNQ/CUT union in Brazil put it well when he said, "Trade unions need to be at the vanguard of developing a new model that guarantees globalization of rights, an agenda to decrease poverty, and to better regulate the financial sector."  This report released as part of the conference gives an overview of the current state of workers and the world rubber industry.

Stuff to Think About

Stuart Coffey, Intern, ILRF

The latest buzz in many classrooms and newspapers is about The Story of Stuff. This is a 20 minute video cautioning people about the dangers of the United States' consumption, and has attracted over 6 million viewers around the world. It has sparked much controversy within the US. The video was created by Annie Leonard, a former Greenpeace employee and an independent lecturer who paints a picture of how US consumer habits backed by corporations and advertising result in the destruction of human rights and the environment. A recent article in the New York Times argues that the video makes stark facts which are very political at times.

The New York Times article, "A Cautionary Video About America's 'Stuff,'" or material goods, debates that although the video is a "cheerful but brutal assessment of how much Americans waste" it has gone straight to the hearts of many children who are now scared that their toys are going to destroy the earth. Critics argue that the video terrorizes children into rejecting the prosperity that will allow them to live to an old age. There have also been complaints by parents that the video is anti-capitalist. In a backlash broadcast on Fox News, Ms. Leonard is accused of being "community college Marxism in a ponytail." Critics argue that the video is one sided and misleading and it is not the way that children should be learning about the topic of consumption and environmental degradation. The images can make kids depressed and it does not give one the tools to deal with the issue.

However, we need to focus on the bigger picture here. US consumerism is a major problem and it needs to be more widely thought about and addressed. In her video, Annie Leonard illustrates the five stages of the Materials Economy, which are Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal. Ms. Leonard argues that this linear system is more complex than it looks. From a labor perspective, the first three stages are critical contexts for the analysis of the labor rights abuses we deal with at ILRF.

"Pleasure" for whom?

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Chocolate giant Mars, Inc. has recently launched a new chocolate bar specifically marketed to women.  "Fling" bars have less than 85 calories and come in bright pink packaging.  According to the product website, Fling is meant to "celebrate the female spirit."  You may be wondering exactly what the "female spirit" entails.  Well, according to Mars, they are referring to that "unapologetically feminine playful, naughty, flirtatious, and alluring nature that brings shimmer into the world."  The website goes on to say: "At under 85 calories per finger, it's slim, but not skinny. Indulgent but not greedy. Naughty but nice."  The ad campaign is unabashedly over-sexualized and offensive -- playing to the lowest common denominator of gender stereotypes as well as contributing to harmful body images.  NPR has an interesting piece on the advertising here.

In addition to the upsetting sexist assumptions on which the ad campaign is based, the ads also serve to mask the company's purchasing policies which are indeed quite "greedy" and "naughty."  So who are the people who grow the main ingredient in Fling chocolate and do they get to experience the same pleasure promised to women who consume Mars chocolate here in the US?

Support Workers at Turkish Factory sourcing to Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, IKEA, and Target

Mary Tharin, ILRF intern

The International Labor Rights Forum, along with our European allies from the Clean Clothes Campaign, are calling for immediate action to protect workers rights in a Turkish textile factory that produces for IKEA, Wal-Mart, Target and Kohl’s. 

Four workers have died from dangerous working conditions in the last four years.  Managers at the Menderes Tekstil factory in Southwestern Turkey have been using union-busting tactics to prevent workers from organizing at the factory which produces bed linens.

Health and safety conditions in the Mendes factory have come under intense scrutiny since the tragic death of a worker on November 20, 2008. The worker reportedly fell into the funnel of a coal boiler, an apparatus which lacked any safety measures. In order to retrieve the body, management forced three additional workers to climb into the funnel, again without any safety precautions in place.

New York Farmworkers Rally for Equality

Liana Foxvog, National Organizer, SweatFree Communities

"We sometimes work 12-16 hours a day -- whatever a person can handle," said Mateo, a farmworker from western New York. He joined with fellow farmworkers and allies from around the state at the State Capitol in Albany yesterday to demand equal rights for farmworkers.

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 exempts farmworkers from the protections it grants other workers. Rural & Migrant Ministry is leading the effort to change that by promoting the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act (A.1867/S.2247), which would eliminate these exclusions in New York.

Transparency and Accountability is the Answer

Eva Seidelman, ILRF Program Assistant

Our food and agricultural supply chains are so complex that massive food international food corporations can no longer protect their consumers against salmonella poisoining and other deadly health risks, according to a New York Times Article today. Conagra corporation is now putting the onus on consumers for protecting themselves against health and safety risks rather than investigating their own supply chains.

Corporations are putting the same burden on consumers who want to buy products made under unionized labor and decent working conditions. The lack of transparency and accountability in corporate supply chains is astounding so consumers are left to trust "fair" labeling programs and corporate public relations that cannot necessarily guarantee compliance with strong labor standards at the farm or factory level.

Amanda Camacho: Organized a Union to Defend Her Rights!

THIS STORY IS PART OF ILRF'S WORKING MOTHERS' STORIES SERIES. EVERY DAY BEFORE MOTHER'S DAY, ILRF FEATURED A DIFFERENT WORKING MOTHER AROUND THE WORLD. AMANDA SHARED HER EMPOWERING STORY WITH AUDIENCES ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS PART OF HER MOTHER'S DAY SPEAKING TOUR.

My name is Amanda Camacho, I’m a single mother and I have two adolescent boys. I have been working in the Colombian flower sector for 17 years, and I started when I was 17 years old.  I’ve been at the Agricola Papagayo company for 14 years. I work in the greenhouse maintaining and cutting carnations.

We decided to form our union, Asopapagayo, an affiliate with the independent union, Untraflores, because we were tired of being disrespected and exploited by our employer. The union began on February 14, 2008, which is also Valentine’s Day and the International Day for Flower Workers, because the company were taking drastic measure to fire many of its formal, contracted workers.  The company replaced many of the formal workers who had worked at the company for over ten years with temporary workers from cooperatives or other agencies who have no rights.  They also gave the employees who remained more work to make up for those that got fired.  They exploit the temporary workers more because they don’t have signed contracts and they don’t pay them for overtime, vacation days, or the right to medical coverage. The temporary workers are also prohibited from organizing themselves to become union members.