Labor is Not a Commodity

Pakistan Factory Fires Tied to Criminal Negligence by Government and Employers

By Khalid Mahmood

At least 289 textile workers in Karachi and 25 shoe makers in Lahore died due to factory fires on Tuesday. This is the biggest loss of worker lives due to factory fires in Pakistan in some decades. The cruel negligence of governments in Sindh and Punjab and also of the federal government has resulted in such a huge loss of lives of the poorest of the poor.

Looking at the factories engulfed with fire on television, I could imagine the working conditions inside these factories, with very small work spaces for each worker, no proper ventilation system, only one exit, no fire safety equipment and an atmosphere full of chemicals. This is the horrifying situation that still exists in many thousand other small factories in Pakistan's largest cities. Sindh and Punjab are both provinces that have had a ban on the labour inspection of factories until last year. Even still, the labour department officials cannot inspect the factories without prior approval from the employer. In addition, rampant corruption within labour departments deprives workers of their basic rights.

Death Trap Factories in Pakistan

By Nasir Mansoor

It was the darkest and saddest day in the history of Pakistan's labour movement when more than 300 workers were burned alive in Karachi on Tuesday, September 11, in the country's most severe garment factory fire accident.

The accident was not the first one in this factory, or in other factories. Unsafe working conditions are an everyday phenomenon, which go unnoticed until the most heinous crimes finally capture the media limelight. This week, more than 300 workers lost their precious lives at the alter of capitalist greed and lust for profits.

The Pakistani society is so criminally brutalized that in a sense no-one heeds the voices and cries of the downtrodden until uncalculable damage and the unimaginable miseries are inflicted upon them. The same is the case for workers at Ali Enterprises, a garment factory at Hub River Road in Karachi's SITE industrial area. The zone is the site of a couple of previous fires in which no government agency took any stern action.

Simultaneous Labor Protests In Four Countries Target Hemisphere’s Largest Supplier of Adidas and Nike

Montreal-Based Gildan Activewear Faces Widespread Labor Controversy On Heels Of $88M Acquisition Of NYC-Based Anvil Knitwear; Students Demand Reforms As Gildan Enters College Market

By United Students Against Sweatshops

On July 24, garment workers in Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic carried out an unprecedented simultaneous demonstration at their factories targeting a little-known company that has suddenly become crucially important to both sportswear brands and labor advocates.

When Montreal-based Gildan Activewear acquired NYC-based Anvil Knitwear on May 9 for $88 million, it became the hemisphere’s largest supplier of the major sportswear brands, including Adidas and Nike. But with its new market dominance came multiple labor conflicts near the boiling point.

The protest follows years of strife exacerbated by the acquisition. Gildan contracts suppliers in Haiti and operates its own facilities in Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, and at least one factory in each of those countries is the subject of ongoing international labor rights denouncements and investigations: Genesis in Haiti, ANNIC in Nicaragua, STAR in Honduras, and Gildan Dortex in the Dominican Republic.

The tense situation boiled over when local management threatened closures of the unionized facilities in the wake of the Canadian firm’s acquisition of Anvil. In fact, during its May 3 quarterly earnings conference call, Gildan told investors it will begin “integrating” its production system later this year. To date the company refuses to discuss its integration plan with the unions, leaving labor advocates to assume Gildan indeed will intentionally shutter factories where workers have exercised their freedom of association.

The Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium Adopts a New Model Policy

By Eric Dirnbach

Sweatshop working conditions have long been documented in the global apparel supply chain, including in factories that make public sector uniforms. Recently an investigation of a factory in the Dominican Republic that supplied uniforms to the City and County of San Francisco uncovered many problems, including sexual and verbal harassment, underpayment of wages, and occupational safety violations (see the Labor Rights Hotspot in the July issue of the Consortium’s newsletter). Many cities and states have “sweatfree” procurement laws that require decent working conditions in the factories that supply their apparel, and the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium was formed in 2010 to assist them in this effort. The Consortium facilitates the sharing of information, resources, and best practices to increase the effectiveness of sweatfree purchasing.

Many public entities have asked for better guidance in drafting sweatfree procurement laws to ensure their maximum effectiveness. The Consortium recently took an important step forward toward this goal. The newly elected Board of Directors approved a new Sweatfree Model Policy. The result of many months of research and discussions with experts and stakeholders, this Policy is a recommendation of language for cities and states to consider when crafting their sweatfree procurement laws and rules.

Philippines Labor Groups Unite in May Day Mobilization

By Juan Manggagawa, Partido Ng Manggagawa (Labor Party Philippines)

May Day this year was commemorated around the world in mass protests if not by general strikes. May 1^st was a day to express the resistance of the 99% to the greed of the 1%. The convergence of the youth-led Occupy movement with the traditional labor movement will radicalize and strengthen both. In the US, the Occupy movement called for a general strike, meaning “no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no trading.” The call reverberated in hundreds of cities across the globe and a worldwide disruption of the status quo was the agenda.

The struggle of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association, or PALEA, against outsourcing and contractualization is part of the global rebellion of the 99% against the 1%. In the midst of such life-and-death battles for workers' welfare and rights, the unity in action of the newly-formed coalition in the Philippines called Nagkaisa (United) will be tested and forged.

Nagkaisa led a 20,000-strong May Day mobilization that filled the streets leading to the Philippines presidential palace and obliged President Benigno Aquino III to respond to the demands presented by the labor leaders. Aquino, however, gave no commitments nor concessions. Labor unity was enough to compel the government to listen to workers’ concerns. Workers’ struggles will be necessary to force the state to accede to labor’s demands.

Secretary Clinton Voices Support for an End to Violent Repression of Bangladeshi Labor Organizers

By Liana Foxvog, International Labor Rights Forum

During her recent visit to Bangladesh, on May 6, 2012, U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, met with students and community members at the International School in Dhaka. Following the torture and murder of Aminul Islam, an executive board member of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation and an organizer with the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, the topic was certain to be raised in the meeting.

Indeed, former garment worker and union organizer, Alia Atta, spoke out: "We face all kinds of obstructions with the police, goons, thugs, and false allegations in court. And, in fact, one of our leaders, Aminul Islam, was very brutally murdered."

Directing her question to Secretary Clinton, Atta asked: "With such conditions, how can we work with the cause of workers’ rights?"

Secretary Clinton responded: "Do not be discouraged or intimidated. But you deserve to have the support of your government and your society. … The labour problems in the garment industries have to be solved because you do not want to earn a reputation as a place where labour leaders and activists are murdered."

Since the murder of Aminul Islam, the International Labor Rights Forum has raised over $3500 to support memorial demonstrations, worker meetings, and printing of posters and leaflets. Much more support is needed. In addition to contributing to ILRF's Bangladesh labor solidarity fund, letters are encouraged to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, calling for a thorough and impartial investigation into the murder.

Church Leaders Call for Justice for Slain Church Workers and Political Prisoners, Human Rights Violations Pervasive in the Philippines

By Brian Campbell, International Labor Rights Forum

Washington, DC -- "The Aquino government had done nothing new. The human rights situation is the same. The killings, abductions and tortures continue and justice has not been rendered. Carnage is still the flavor of the day and the climate of impunity has not waned. The US government should cease to extend whatever aid, partnership and support to a government that has not stopped to intimidate and harass its own people. It is also to the benefit of the American public to look into the Obama administration's expansion of its military footprint in the Philippines and Asia."

This was the message of a delegation of Filipino human rights advocates from the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Watch to staff of US Senate and House Committees on foreign affairs and the Department of State as they visited the US capital the last week of March. The delegation included Angelina Bisuña Ipong, a former political detainee, Bishop Reuel Marigza, Secretary General of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), and Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Philippine Independent Church.

Human Rights Violations Are Still Pervasive in the Philippines

Ipong, who was the oldest woman political prisoner in the Philippines, was arrested on March 2005 but was just released on February 2011. She is the living proof of the onslaught against human rights in the Philippines. Angie is now working with an organization of former political detainees; she has learned that her ordeal was so much the same with everyone. Presently, there are still more than 350 political detainees languishing in jails all over the Philippines.

Continue reading the Philippine Labor News & Analysis (March/Apri 2012) at UE International...

Philippine Labor News & Analysis

March/Apri 2012, Vol. 2, No. 1

101st Commemoration of the Triangle Fire Remembers Bangladeshi Fire Victims

By Andi Sosin and Joel Sosinsky, Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition

Each March 25^th, the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, unionists, the fire department and all who advocate for worker safety gather in New York City to mark that infamous day in 1911 when 146 garment workers lost their lives in the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire. In remembering 1911 as a turning point for labor rights in America, it is important to be aware that preventable industrial tragedies are still happening around the world today. Taking notice that the excesses of capitalism result in worldwide tragedies, this March 25^th, along with chalking the names of the Triangle fire victims like Rosie Weiner and Lucia Maltese, names including Mukhlesur Rahaman and Sujon Ahmed, sewing machine operators who died in a December 2010 factory fire in Bangladesh, were written in chalk in front of the Triangle factory’s landmark building.

In similarity to the aftermath of the Triangle fire, outrage and conscience have brought on positive changes for Bangladeshi garment workers. A new agreement on safety standards, inspections and audits of safety in garment factories is being financed by the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger’s brand, made in the factory where the fire took the Bangladeshi workers’ lives, and there is hope that the safety memorandum will be supported by more clothing designers. However, progress in safety is still accompanied by continued danger for labor leaders in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi Labor Rights Activist Murdered

Local Police Found Body Bearing Signs of Brutal Torture, Former Apparel Worker Had Received Numerous Death Threats & Been Detained & Tortured by Bangladeshi Security Services in 2010

By International Labor Rights Forum and Worker Rights Consortium

A Bangladeshi labor rights activist and former apparel worker was tortured and murdered last week in Dhaka. His body was dumped outside of the capital city and was found by local police last Thursday. According to the police report, Aminul Islam's body bore signs of brutal torture. Aminul's family, who had been searching for him since he disappeared last Wednesday, identified him on Saturday from photos appearing in local newspapers. Labor rights organizations in Bangladesh and the United States believe the killing is associated with Aminul's work on behalf of apparel workers who sew garments for suppliers to major U.S. retailers and brands.

Aminul had worked for several years as a labor rights organizer and advocate. His organization is among the most prominent labor rights groups in the country. Levi Strauss called BCWS "a globally respected labor rights organization that has played a vital role in documenting and working to remedy labor violations in the apparel industry in Bangladesh." The Bangladeshi Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) was featured in a recent ABC TV News story exposing the relationship of U.S. brands to a sweatshop factory fire in Dhaka that killed twenty-nine workers last year, and describing the repression of labor rights advocates.

BCWS and its staff have been the target of a campaign of harassment by the Bangladeshi government and apparel factory owners for two years. The organization's license to operate was revoked and Aminul and two of his colleagues were jailed in 2010. Their release was secured only after international pressure.

Aminul had disappeared Wednesday evening on his way to meet a worker who had called him seeking assistance. Aminul's family and friends searched for him until Saturday, when his wife recognized a photograph of his body, published in a local newspaper.

Another Bad Apple

By Sean Rudolph, International Labor Rights Forum

Serap Yazgac, a young worker in her twenties, decided she needed a union after she was severely burned by an industrial iron at a Trexta facility in Çerkezköy, Turkey, which makes accessories for Apple, Nokia, Blackberry, Samsung, Dell and other consumer electronics companies. The scalding hot manufacturing iron fell on her hand and stuck for several minutes before someone pulled it from her burning skin. Help could have come sooner but management had removed an emergency button, claiming that workers would “play” with it.

Click here to find out what happened next, and to sign the petition to Apple and Trexta to demand justice for Serap and her coworkers.