Labor is Not a Commodity

New DOL Report Lists Products Made Using Child or Forced Labor

Jade Batstone, intern, International Labor Rights Forum           

On September 10th the Department of Labor released an official list of U.S imported goods believed to be produced using child or forced labor. The list was created as a part of the new Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and, for the first time, recognized that the U.S imports 122 goods from 58 different countries that force children and adults to produce U.S. consumer supported goods. ILRF has maintained campaigns around products documented in the report and some goods on the list were included in ILRF’s testimony to the Department of Labor in 2008. These items include cocoa from the Ivory Coast, cotton from Tajikistan, cottonseed, stones, and soccer balls from India, sugarcane from Guatemala, tobacco from Malawi, and surgical instruments from Pakistan. To view the complete list click here.

US Dept. of Labor Releases List of Goods Produced by Forced, Child Labor

Tim Newman, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum

As part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the US Department of Labor (DOL)  released today a list of 122 goods from 58 countries that are produced by forced labor and child labor.  Find out more and see the list here.  Included in the list are many of the products that ILRF recommend to the DOL during our testimony in 2008, for example: cocoa in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, cotton from Uzbekistan, rubber from Liberia, tobacco from Malawi, cottonseed, stones and soccer balls from India, sugar from Guatemala and surgical instruments from Pakistan.  You can check out ILRF's press release here and our press release about Uzbek cotton with the American Federation of Teachers and Calvert here.

What Sec. Clinton and US politicians could say in Liberia

Tim Newman, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has arrived in Liberia as part of her seven-nation tour of Africa.  During her brief visit, Secretary Clinton focused her remarks on supporting the leadership of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as well as the role good governance and strong security forces play in ensuring a peaceful recovery from conflict.  In addition to Sec. Clinton's visit to Liberia, a Congressional delegation led by Congressman Bobby Rush and including  will visit Liberia (as well as Nigeria, Angola and South Africa) this weekend.

As readers of this blog know, we have tracked labor rights violations on the rubber plantation in Liberia owned by the Firestone tire company, the largest employer and foreign investor in Liberia.  As Firestone's investment in Liberia has historically been a major part of US relations with the country, what can Sec. Clinton and the Congressional delegation do and say to ensure that the rights of workers and the environment are protected as part of Liberia's development process after years of conflict?

Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission Highlights Firestone's Abuses

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

When Liberia finally emerged from years of civil war, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to "promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation" and to investigate human rights violations that occurred.  Last week, the TRC released its final report which is available online here.  Throughout the report, the TRC mentions the role that Firestone has played historically in abusing human rights in Liberia and ultimately concludes that Firestone aided and abetted economic crimes. 

It's World Day Against Child Labor!

By Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Today (June 12th) is World Day Against Child Labor (WDACL).  Around the world, labor rights  advocates use this day as an opportunity to raise awareness about the worst forms of child labor and propose solutions to this ongoing problem.  This year, WDACL is especially important because it marks the ten year anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention #182 to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.  It's also important to be talking about how to eliminate the most exploitative labor conditions today because of the global economic crisis.  The International Trade Union Confederation put out a statement today explaining how the economic crisis is leading to an increase in child labor.

The theme for World Day Against Child Labor this year is "Give Girls a Chance" and focuses on girls involved in child labor.  Check out a report from the ILO about girls and child labor.  Check out this slideshow from the ILO about how young people are fighting child labor.

Keep reading for updates about ILRF's campaigns to stop child labor and ideas on how YOU can take action!

Workers and Earth Day

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

People around the world are celebrating Earth Day today.  The labor movement and the environmental movement have not always worked together productively.  As the demand for eco-friendly products increases, many businesses are introducing products that are meant to be less destructive to the environment, but these products are often made by exploited workers.  For example, NPR did a recent story about a new line of "green" footwear at Payless ShoeSource that is likely produced in sweatshops in China.  Policy Matters Ohio also did an excellent report about how a supplier for GE's compact fluorescent lightbulbs (that are being promoted as an earth-friendly alternative) in China violates worker rights and breaks Chinese labor law.

At the same time, there is now an increasing amount of positive collaboration between the labor and environmental movement.

Super Bowl Halftime Show Sponsor Exploits Workers

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

For the second year in a row, Bridgestone Firestone is the title sponsor of the NFL Super Bowl Halftime show.  Close to 100 million football fans across the country will tune in to watch Bruce Springsteen perform and will see two new 30-second commercials (estimated to cost at least $3 million each) from the world's largest tire company.

Unfortunately, the exploitation workers face on Firestone's rubber plantation in Liberia will receive much less scrutiny.  For well over 80 years, Firestone has operated the world's largest rubber plantation in Harbel, Liberia. Workers on the plantation have long faced incredibly poor living and working conditions.  Firestone rubber tappers live in crowded shacks without running water, electricity or indoor latrines and are required to meet an unreasonably high production quota in order to receive their meager pay.

TAKE ACTION HERE and keep reading for more information.

Firestone Workers in Liberia Sign Historic Contract

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Today in Liberia, the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) held a ceremony with Firestone management and Liberian Minister of Labor Kofi Woods to sign their new collective bargaining agreement (CBA).  It has been a long struggle for workers to achieve independent and democratically elected union leadership and for the first time, they have a contract which was bargained by a representative union. This is a major step forward for workers who have been living and working in deplorable conditions for generations.

Click here to send an e-mail to Firestone Natural Rubber Company CEO Dan Adomitis and Bridgestone Americas CEO Mark Emkes to let them know that you are happy to finally see that workers have a real contract, but that you are ready to take action in solidarity with the workers in Liberia if the company does not follow through with their commitments!

Globalization, the Environment and Workers

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

A recent article in the New York Times titled "Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization" raises some very interesting questions about how the supply chains of US multinational corporations will change in the coming years due to increasing oil and transportation costs and climate change, among other factors.

As the article says,

Cheap oil, the lubricant of quick, inexpensive transportation links across the world, may not return anytime soon, upsetting the logic of diffuse global supply chains that treat geography as a footnote in the pursuit of lower wages. Rising concern about global warming, the reaction against lost jobs in rich countries, worries about food safety and security, and the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva last week also signal that political and environmental concerns may make the calculus of globalization far more complex... [M]any see evidence that companies looking to keep prices low will have to move some production closer to consumers. Globe-spanning supply chains — Brazilian iron ore turned into Chinese steel used to make washing machines shipped to Long Beach, Calif., and then trucked to appliance stores in Chicago — make less sense today than they did a few years ago.

NEW Firestone Campaign Video!

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Check out the newest Stop Firestone campaign video by clicking here or watch it below.  The video is an interview conducted by Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, with Edwin Cisco, Secretary General of the Firestone Agricultural Workers of Liberia, and Christian Levesque of Conrad & Scherer.  Check it out and spread it around!  Don't forget to check out the Stop Firestone campaign website for more information and to take action.