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Globalization and the US Construction Industry

August 19, 2011

According to the US International Trade Commission (USITC), China is the leading exporter of construction-related material to the United States.  China’s record on human rights is widely known to be unacceptable, yet every day US construction workers use Chinese-made fasteners to install Chinese-made plumbing and electrical fixtures and other products.  They use Chinese-made rigging equipment to raise machinery made in Thailand or Mexico, other countries with lax labor standards relative to North America.  Many of these products are made under the auspices of US manufacturers who have made direct investments in the economies of the Global South. 

Labor Groups Rally to Oppose the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

August 18, 2011

The police van bearing their arrested comrades drove away while the rest of the demonstrators talked about future actions.  It was a hot day and a good day.

On June 10 Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos signed into law legislation intended to compensate Colombian citizens victimized by the military – and paramilitary - campaign against the rebel FARC organization.  This new law, opposed by Santos’s predecessor Alvaro Uribe, has been seen as an attempt to overcome US congressional opposition to the free trade pact.  On June 2, Daniel Wilkinson referenced the new “Victims Law” in the New York Review of Books, giving the final assessment:

Solidarity with Striking Verizon Workers

August 15, 2011

Verizon is asking workers to give up two holidays; including Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The company is also wants to get rid of mandatory overtime restrictions and restrictions on the amount of work it can subcontract to outside employers.

Conceeding to these demands threaten to erase the gains of 50 years of bargaining by the CWA. The strikers need your help! 

People all over the country are showing their support by joining picket lines, signing petitions, sending letters to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, and calling Verizon’s headquarters urging the company to negotiate and provide its workers with middle class wages and benefits and safe working conditions.  

Tell the World Health Organization to Call Action to Labor Rights Abuses in Tobacco

August 9, 2011

Tenant families are given small plots of land by large tobacco estates in exchange for producing a certain amount of tobacco every year. In addition to forcing tenants to turn over a large portion of their harvest as rent, they also charge for seeds and fertilizer. Many tenant farmers do not make enough to buy food; tenant children, some as young as 7, are forced to work beside their parents or as day laborers on other plots. They are subjected to hazardous manual labor, physical strain, dangerous environments, and long hours. The children are charged with strenuous tasks such as clearing the land, building tobacco drying sheds, weeding and plucking tobacco.

Carter's Victory! Will Aeropostale, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters and Toys R Us Stop Forced Child Labor in Cotton?

July 22, 2011

The struggle is far from over! While many clothing retailers -- like Gap, Children’s Place, and Gymboree -- are working to address labor abuses in their cotton, some companies continue to remain silent about forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton fields. ILRF has started new petitions focused on a few holdouts who still have not taken action against Uzbek cotton. 

Here are links to our new petitions:

And You Thought Tobacco Only Harmed the Smoker

July 15, 2011

The International Labor Rights Forum continues to passionately address the forced labor that occurs on tobacco farms with extensive research and ILRF’s Tobacco Campaign. ILRF was excited to support WOJA and Otañez in their efforts to address the hazardous industry of tobacco that is riddled with child laborers and the labor of pregnant women. A shocking 78% of children between the ages of 10 to 14 and 55% of 7 to 9 year olds work full or part-time with their parents on tobacco farms internationally.  

Sting Hypocritical on Human and Labor Rights in Central Asia

July 13, 2011

Sting said this about playing in Tashkent:

I am well aware of the Uzbek president’s appalling reputation in the field of human rights as well as the environment. I made the decision to play there in spite of that have come to believe that cultural boycotts are not only pointless gestures, they are counter-productive.

This stands in stark contrast to Sting’s refusal to cross Kazakhstan’s “virtual picket lines.” Much like the concert in Kazakhstan, which was part of the president’s birthday celebrations, Sting’s appearance in Tashkent was solely for the enjoyment of Uzbekistan’s elite. The cheapest tickets cost $1000. That’s 45 times more than the average Uzbek’s monthly salary. 

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