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We Want More from Our S'mores!

August 7, 2008

If you live in the San Francisco area, join us at a Fair Trade S'mores Happy Hour on August 13th at 6PM at Dolores Park!

For people across the country, help us make hundreds or even thousands of
Fair Trade s'mores nationwide, just by choosing Fair Trade chocolate
for your barbeque, campfire, or at home.  Let your s'mores be counted!  Let us know that you are participating in the national action by registering your s'mores by clicking here.

Right to Strike Violated in South Korea; KCTU VP Arrested, Detained

August 6, 2008

The KCTU along with the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) planned
a strike in protest of the factors mentioned above. When the Korean Government
heard about this action, however, the prosecutor and the Ministry of Labor deemed
it to be nothing but a “political strike” and thus illegal according to the
“obstruction of business provision in section 314 of the Penal Code.” Search
and arrest warrants were drawn up for key officials of the KMWU, KCTU, and
officers from the Hyundai Motor Branch. The Vice President of the KCTU, Ms. Jin
Young-ok, has already been arrested and detained!

Firestone Workers in Liberia Sign Historic Contract

August 6, 2008

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.

Globalization, the Environment and Workers

August 4, 2008

It's hard to say if increasing environmental and political concerns will result in significant changes in the way corporations are managing their supply chains.  Companies like Firestone are still planning to shut down plants in the US in order to search for cheaper labor costs.  However, if the trend toward moving production back closer to consumers develops, it could have major implications on workers around the world.  How could this effect workers in the Global South and will it benefit workers in the US or end up hurting them?  What do you think?

The battle over the Employee Free Choice Act

August 1, 2008

For some background, here is how the AFL-CIO sums up the Employee Free Choice Act:

[T]he current system for forming unions and bargaining is broken. Every
day, corporations deny workers the freedom to decide for themselves
whether to form unions to bargain for a better life. They routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire workers who try to form unions and bargain for economic well-being.

 

NEW Firestone Campaign Video!

July 28, 2008

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.

The need for aggressive enforcement of sweatfree purchasing policies

July 25, 2008

With such a close monitoring system in place, it is difficult to
understand how such egregious violations could have still been
happening. However, it seems as though Jin Shun was very strategic in
concealing these. The company provided workers with mock question and
answer sheets to memorize in case they were ever questioned about
conditions in the factory. They also provided falsified time records to
labor investigators – which, if correct, would show that workers
produced an entire piece of clothing in less than one minute. It is
amazing how long this system worked without being discovered and that
workers were being trained to cover up for their disgustingly inhumane
employers.

Working Women in Pakistan are being Stripped of all Labor Rights

July 24, 2008

Organizations like Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) and Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA) have undertaken a few
initiatives to address this growing concern in Pakistan. Their most
recent project titled “Pathway and Purse-strings: Market Access for
Women Producers in Pakistan” is geared towards providing marginalized
female producers with resources to access markets, where their goods
are in high demand. This particular program is estimated to improve the
economic condition of 16,000 to 20,000 women in rural Pakistan. (see

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