Labor is Not a Commodity

Garment Workers Leader Moshrefa Mishu Arrested and Remanded Illegally

By Jacqueline Starr, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum 

In the early morning hours, on December 14th the home of Moshrefa Mishu, president of Garment Workers Unity Forum, was descended upon by individuals claiming to be part of the Detective Branch of the Bangladesh Police force. They were able to take Moshrefa without a warrant by threatening her with arrest. Moshrefa was unable to gather important medicines before being taken by the authorities to a detention center. The rough conditions at Headquarters, constant interrogations, and inability to take asthma and spinal injury medications for 24-hours seriously contributed to the rapid deterioration of her health.   This arrest is a continuation of the targeting of labor rights leaders in Bangladesh by the government and owners of garment factories in efforts to blame someone for the worker protests that have continued.  You can read about the overall situation at http://www.sweatfree.org/bcws.

Bangladeshi Ha-Meem Group Garment Factory Goes Up in Smoke and Flames

By Diana Karakos, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum 

This past Tuesday, December 14, yet another garment factory exploded in flames just outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh.  The blazing inferno claimed the lives of at least 29 workers and injured hundreds of others.  Some workers were unable to escape due to locked emergency exits.  Many chose to jump to their deaths from the ninth through eleventh stories rather than be consumed by the flames.  Thankfully, the fire began when many of the workers were at lunch, otherwise many more would have probably been locked inside and killed by the fire. 

ILRF, CCC, MSN, and WRC all released a joint statement expressing grave concern for this turn of events and continues to remain concerned at the lack of accountability of buyers and suppliers in Bangladesh.  It is shameful to imagine that these fires continues to rage because of industry wide problems regarding health and safety standards and implementation in Bangladesh.  It is unacceptable that workers are continuing to die on the job -- especially considering that many of the brands have committed to a set of health and safety practices.

Worker Cooperatives in Colombia: The Reality Behind the Rhetoric

By Diana Carolina Vega Higuera, Intern, USLEAP

In Colombia, the government portrays Cooperatives (Cooperativos de Trabajo Asociado, CTAs) as mechanisms of employment generation, economic growth, and collective wealth. But, particularly in the oil palm industry, the rhetoric does not live up to the reality.

Cooperatives are generally defined as non-profit ventures in which workers own and democratically manage the operation. In Colombia, however, CTAs are typically glorified subcontracting agencies that operate under the pretense of democratic management. 

The issue is that Associated Labor Cooperative workers are considered owners, not employees, and are therefore excluded from the application of Colombian labor law.  CTA workers do not have the right to establish trade unions to improve labor conditions because, in theory, they are their own bosses. They do not receive a stable salary, healthcare, pension payments and other benefits as outlined in Colombian labor law. Rather, workers must meet a production quota and go unpaid when weather conditions are unfavorable and production is down. They are required to contract their own health insurance and do not have paid vacation or sick days. Many times they have to work Sundays, extra hours, and holidays without receiving overtime pay. And although Colombian law treats CTA workers as employers, they are still subject to brutal management practices and have little power to determine what happens on the Cooperative.