Labor is Not a Commodity

Child Laborer Finally Freed From Captivity After Losing Arm in Cotton Ginning Accident

By Brian Campbell, International Labor Rights Forum

Police in the Indian state of Gujarat arrested Harmish Patel on Wednesday for allegedly trafficking children for labor. Patel is the owner of Umapati Ginning in the village of Bodaso in Kedi, Gujurat, where in this past February Anil, a 12 year old child laborer, had been working ginning cotton when he lost his arm in a tragic ginning accident. Patel’s arrest release came more than two months after Anil’s step mother, Hakribai Bhagora, filed a complaint with the local police with the help of local labor organizers from PRAYAS, seeking Patel’s arrest.

Justice for Anil was short lived, though. When news broke in the local media of Patel’s arrest, labor organizers from PRAYAS immediately contacted the police to inquire about Anil’s condition, who was being held captive by Patel since the February accident despite efforts by his family to secure his release.

When making the arrest, though, police did not attempt to notify Anil’s family or PRAYAS, nor did they take Anil into protective custody. Instead, Anil was left in the hands of Patel’s family. Most recently, when Anil’s older brother Thrava, 18, a factory worker in nearby Ahmedabad, and an organizer for PRAYAS visited Patel at his home in Kedi last Saturday to again request his release, Patel refused to allow Thrava to meet with his brother alone and they could only talk under the watchful eye of the cotton gin owner.

Historic Strike of Brick Kiln Workers in Andhra Pradesh, India

By A Krishna and Sudhir Katiyar, Solidarity Committee for Brick Kiln Laborers in Andhra Pradesh

Every year thousands of workers from West Odisha migrate to work in inta bhattis of Ranga Reddy district. There are nearly 5000 workers form Odisha working in 100 inta bhattis in villages around Dundigal of Kutbullapur mandal. The workers are recruited against a nominal advance. They are paid only 180-200 Rupees (US$3.55 - $3.95) per 1000 bricks. The statutory minimum wage in AP for brick making is 340 - 367 Rupees (US$6.71 - $7.24) per 1000 bricks depending upon quality of brick. Thus they are paid less than half the minimum wages.

This year the workers demanded that they be paid minimum wages. A memorandum was submitted to the Labor Commissioner office on 5th March demanding payment of minimum wages. A meeting was held on 18th March where it was decided to stop work to put pressure on owners to pay minimum wages. The workers have stopped working on 19th March demanding payment of minimum wages. They want to go back to their villages if they are not paid minimum wages. After this the owners have let loose a reign of terror. The Union people doing organising were called to police station where a mob of owners demandd that they be arrested. Police questioned the union organizers and advised them not to go back to the village Dundigal as they could not guarantee the security. The owners ganged up and did not let the union vehice enter the village.

Also, on 20th March the strike continued.A huge gathering of brick kiln workers took place near village Dundigal. However the Union activists could not address the gathering owing to the mob of owners that surrounded the meeting. The police also tried to disperse the workers and even threatened lathi charge. Three Union workers got holed up in village Dundigal and could be rescued with police help only late in the evening after much pressure was brought upon the police.

The owners are threatening workers with violence. In Maladri inta bhatti, the workers Sukru and his wife were badly beaten up and forced to resume work on 19th March. Workers have also been beaten up in Ekteshwar and Narsimha bhattis. The owners are even going to the extent of cutting off electricity and drinking water supply.

The concerned citizens of Hyderabad have formed a Solidarity Committee to support workers struggle. The Committee met the District Collector and the District Commissioner of Labor asking for their intervention. A meeting is now scheduled on 21st March between the Labor Department and the owners to impress upon the owners that they have to pay minimum wages. However the Labor Commissioner is already beginning to obfuscate the issue by saying that he has to interpret minimum wages. The District Collector has ordered the Deputy Collector to make rounds of bhattis and ensure that minimum wages are paid and violence is stopped.

West Coast Kids Surprise Hershey With Fair Trade Action

By Tex Dworkin, Global Exchange

> See the original blog

Yesterday we shared news about an eighth grader named Jasper Perry-Anderson who delivered an online petition to Hershey with 16,000+ signatures on it encouraging the company to increase its commitment to preventing abusive child labor on cocoa farms. Along with the petition, Jasper and fellow activists also delivered more than 500 Valentines made by kids for the members of the Hershey Trust.
 
Hershey got another Valentine’s Day surprise, this one from the west coast the day before. On February 13th, Fifty-six students at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School School in Los Angeles, accompanied by their Principal and two teachers, delivered Valentine postcards in person to Hershey Corp. board member (and Milton Hershey School trustee) Robert F. Cavanaugh at his office in Long Beach.

Valentine’s Day in Hershey

By Elizabeth O'Connell, Green America

Very early, and not quite yet bright, we jumped in the car and headed north…for Hershey, PA. At 9:00am we met Jasper Perry-Anderson, a Philadelphia eighth grader who created an online petition encouraging the company to increase its commitment to ethically sourced cocoa to prevent abusive child labor on the cocoa farms from where it sources.

In just two weeks, Jasper’s petition on Change.org gained more than 16,000 signatures from individuals around the world. In addition to the petitions we delivered more than 500 Valentines made by kids for the members of the Hershey Trust. These Valentines were made by students from across the country, though largely from New York State thanks to NYSUT and the New York Labor Religion Coalition. The Valentines contained statements like “This Valentine’s Day, I want to give my Valentine chocolate from laborers who have earned fair wages” and “We have feelings and so do Africa’s kids. They suffer.”

Cathy O’Brien, an employee of the Trust, accepted the petitions and valentines on behalf of the the Trust.

Simultaneously, on the other side of the country, 56 seventh and eighth graders delivered Valentines to the Chairman of the Trust, Robert Cavanaugh, at his real estate office in Los Angeles, CA. Mr. Cavanaugh accepted the petitions.

For two years we have called on The Hershey Company’s executives and board to take meaningful action to prevent child labor throughout their supply chain. With little progress, we have taken it up a notch. The Hershey Trust is in charge of the Hershey school, controls approximately eighty percent of the voting shares of The Hershey Company, and holds several seats on the company’s board of directors.

It’s not too late to sign Jasper’s Petition! Have a happy and just Valentines Day!

And a few of the Valentines (because they are so cute!)

 

 

Cocoa Activism Moves to the Next Level!

By Judy Gearhart and Adeline Zensius

Last week, The Hershey Company announced that it will be sourcing their entire line of Bliss and Dagoba chocolates with Rainforest Alliance cocoa beans, indicating that they are taking an initial step towards accountability. 

What is most inspiring about our “Raise the Bar, Hershey!” campaign is the response from North American kids campaigning on behalf of West African kids. Young activists from across the U.S. and Canada have donated money, started online petitions, attended protests, written letters, and hosted screenings of the documentary “The Dark Side of Chocolate”. 

Getting Hershey’s to take this initial step towards accountability is an important victory for the “Raise the Bar, Hershey!” campaign. However, if Hershey’s meets only the goals set out for this year it will barely catch up to its competitors in accountability commitments and it will still be significantly behind on monitoring child labor in its cocoa supply.

Our message to all our cocoa advocates right now – young and old – is:  “Thank You and Let’s Keep Pushing!”  In fact, this week Jasper Perry-Anderson an eighth grade student from Hershey’s home state of Pennsylvania launched an online petition at Change.org demanding Hershey’s do more to help cocoa kids in West Africa. Click here to sign the petition.

This Year’s Worst Companies to Work for if You Want the Right to Join a Union

By Liana Foxvog and Sean Rudolph, International Labor Rights Forum

Today we published our list of this year's Scrooges for workers' right to unionize. The companies that topped our list are Dole, Hershey's, Philippine Airlines, and Wal-Mart. These corporations use intimidation and sometimes violence, either in the U.S. or in their supply chains abroad, to violate workers’ internationally recognized right to organize.

Among other rights related to freedom of association, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests” (Article 23, Section 4).

Despite the labor rights protections in the UDHR and national labor laws, workers continue to see their rights trampled on a daily basis. In its most recent survey of violations of trade union rights, the International Trade Union Confederation reports at least 90 unionists were killed, 2,083 were injured, and 4,599 were illegally fired last year as a result of their union activities.  Additionally, as the employment crisis continues to grow, many labor rights advocates fear that companies are using the crisis to attack union workers and institute employment schemes that reduce the number of workers guaranteed union protections.

The 2011 Scrooge corporations’ violations include intimidating workers with severe threats, standing by while suppliers aggressively suppress worker organizing, collaborating with military forces to undermine democratically elected union leaders, illegally firing thousands of workers, exploiting foreign exchange students, and turning a blind eye to forced child labor in the supply chain.

The right to freedom of association is typically violated through the use of bullying tactics and the spread of anti-union propaganda but this year’s Scrooges have taken violating workers’ rights to new lows. As we celebrate the holiday season, consumers and labor advocates can support workers by telling these Scrooge companies that they need to respect workers rights.

As we celebrate the holiday season, you can support workers by calling on the Scrooges to respect workers' rights:

• Urge Philippine Airlines to reinstate fired workers and support job security 
• Tell Wal-Mart to stop doing business with contractors that repress labor organizing
• Ask Hershey to end trafficked child labor in its supply chain
• Call on Dole to stop supporting military propaganda campaigns against legitimate worker organizations

Click here to read more about these companies in our Working for Scrooge report.

Newt Gingrich: This Year’s Grinch

By Judy Gearhart and Adeline Zensius, International Labor Rights Forum

Last month, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich offered his solution for the endemic poverty in many areas of our nation: replacing school janitors with child laborers.

In a speech given to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Mr. Gingrich argued, “It’s tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children, in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid.” His proposal for reforming child labor laws include replacing unionized janitors with one “master janitor” and several local students to clean their own schools.

Mr. Gingrich’s comments, made in a seemingly offhanded manner that then required additional clarification, indicate how little appreciation he has for child welfare policy – not to mention international norms. Strong child labor laws are critical for safeguarding children’s time and energy for school and learning. Public schools contracting youth as janitors would both create serious health risks and further stigmatize those kids who cannot afford to spend time in extracurricular activities, such as sports, clubs, and student leadership. Contracting poor students to work in jobs that provide very little vocational training for future employment ignores the growing problem of class warfare in our country. These programs have the potential to exacerbate this problem, polarizing our schools into groups of “wealthy” and “poor” students.

A Sweet Day

By Elizabeth O'Connell, Fair Trade Campaigns Director, Green America

Yesterday was a day that I have been looking forward to for a long time.  It was the day we finally got to deliver all 100,000 petitions that the Raise the Bar, Hershey! campaign has collected to their intended recipient: John Bilbrey, CEO of Hershey.

We have been collecting petitions for just over a year.  Signers are calling on the Hershey Company to remove forced labor, child labor, and human trafficking from its chocolate bars.  In partnership with Global Exchange, the International Labor Rights Forum, the Not for Sale Campaign, the New York State Labor Religion Coalition, and countless schools and congregations, we gathered more than 50,000 signatures.  Then last month we teamed up with Change.org, an online platform for social change, to collect another 50,000 signers to our online petition.  (This platform also sends automatic emails to Hershey executives, board members, and members of the Corporate Social Responsibility team.  If you haven’t signed yet, it’s not too late!)

So, with heavy boxes of signatures in hand, and dressed in our most appropriate Halloween costumes, (I went as a member of a Child Labor Hazard Squad) we headed north up to Hershey, PA.

Before we even reached the front door of Hershey’s Corporate Headquarters, we were approached by two men who must have been part of Hershey’s security team. They were ready for us and seemed pretty nervous about what we had brought for them. (This campaign is having an impact!)

Scan a Barcode, Learn About a Product

By Julie Kaszton, Outreach Coordinator, Free2Work

This Friday, October 21^st, Free2Work is launching its new app with barcode scanning technology at Not For Sale’s Global Forum on Human Trafficking.   Free2Work is ground central for the modern-day abolitionist movement and provides consumers and activists easy access to information on a company’s efforts to eliminate forced and child labor in its supply chain.  

The mobile application, available on iPhone and Android, equips consumers with valuable information on companies’ labor standards and production practices at the moment they need it most – while they shop.  Built-in barcode scanning technology enables consumers to scan the barcode of a specific product and instantly gain access to information about that company’s efforts to address forced and child labor in its supply chain.  The aim of the app is to encourage companies to be more transparent about production practices and to enable consumers to make smart purchasing decisions that have a positive impact on workers’ lives.   

Additionally, a new share component within the app gives consumers the ability to share all this information with their social networks on Facebook and Twitter. Social media posts are linked via hashtags to the specific company’s profile page, empowering consumers to directly voice their concerns about companies’ production practices.  Consumers can also use the app to participate in the evaluation process by inputting basic product information such as product name, UPC code, raw materials, and country of manufacture. 

The app has been featured on Al Jazeera, Forbes India, and CNN and was awarded "One of the Great 11 Apps of 2011" at the San Francisco AppShow.  

Rohin Dharmakumar, business reporter for Forbes India, explained: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Today, we ask, ‘If companies do ugly things, but consumers don’t hear of them, are the companies still guilty?’ Free2Work is collating and channeling supply chain and labor practices information from around the world and putting it right into your hands.” 

The Hershey Company is a Master of Philanthropy, but Not Accountability

By Judy Gearhart, Executive Director, International Labor Rights Forum 

The Hershey Company is working hard to promote its charitable giving programs to poor African farmers and, indeed, it is high time they attempt to address the effects of crushing poverty in the region.  Hershey is unwilling, however, to be accountable to these farmers in a more significant and straightforward way.  Hershey needs to stop ‘blowing their own horn’ and instead pay a decent price for their cocoa and accept their share of responsibility for the rampant use of child labor and forced child labor on the farms where they buy cocoa.

In their press release about fighting malaria in Ghana, Hershey makes much to do about being a founding member of the U.S. Department of Labor’s $17 million Framework of Action to combat the worst forms of child labor in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, yet they do not say how much – or how little – they are contributing to that fund.  So while Hershey promotes its charitable giving and its nominal support for much-needed assistance programs (paid for mainly by U.S. taxpayers), it continues to refuse to make real commitments to third party monitoring of child labor in its supply chain. 

The U.S. Department of Labor enlisted Tulane University experts to conduct a multi-year, independent evaluation of company efforts to work with local governments to stop the use of child labor in cocoa farming.  The results showed how little has been achieved in the past ten years and that there is a need for more direct, third party monitoring.  The study recommended that companies should commit to traceability systems in their cocoa supply chains, which “enables the enforcement of standards at the producer level and is a requirement of product certification.”