In the News

FAWUL Honors Johnson-Sirleaf

The News (Liberia)
09/08/2008

By Jimmey C. Fahngon

Firestone Agriculture Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) over the weekend honored President Ellen Joihnson-Sirleaf for helping to improve their condition.

The Secretary General of FAWUL Edwin B. Cisco said the union decided to honor President Johnson-Sirleaf for the vital role her government has played and continues to play in ensuring that conditions of Firestone workers are improved.

He lauded the government for providing forum through which voices of workers are heard.

Bush To Host Colombian Death Squad President

The Huffington Post
09/08/2008

By Dan Kovalik

On September 20, President Bush will be hosting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at the White House. This meeting comes as the "para-political scandal" -- which has already implicated around 60 political allies of President Uribe in aiding and abetting the right-wing paramilitaries -- mounts in Colombia. This also comes as the body count of the victims of the paramilitaries, also known as "death squards," continues to mount.

Indonesians' Suit Against Exxon Cleared for Trial

The Wall Street Journal
08/28/2008

By Brent Kendall

In a legal setback for Exxon Mobil Corp., a federal judge here cleared for trial a seven-year-old lawsuit by Indonesian villagers over alleged killings and torture by Indonesian soldiers guarding a natural-gas plant in the Aceh province.

U.S. District Court Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer ruled Wednesday against a motion to throw out the villagers' suit, finding evidence that the soldiers committed the alleged atrocities and that Exxon Mobil's Indonesia subsidiary had paid for the military security forces to guard the plant.

Lebanon: Migrant Domestic Workers Dying Every Week

Human Rights Watch
08/26/2008

(Beirut, August 26, 2008) – The high death toll of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, from unnatural causes, shows the urgent need to improve their working conditions, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the official steering committee tasked with improving the situation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon to investigate the root causes of these deaths and develop a concrete national strategy to reduce them.

SADC looks on while unions bear persecution

Business Report (South Africa)
08/22/2008

By Terry Bell

When the land grab crisis struck in Zimbabwe, the media concentrated on the small minority of mainly wealthy white commercial farmers who were harassed, beaten, in a few cases killed, and had their properties looted. Little attention was paid to the farm workers and their families, many of them members of the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers' Union.

Zimbabwe Doctors Strike Over Pay, Teachers Threaten to Follow

Bloomberg
08/21/2008

By Brian Latham

Doctors at Zimbabwe's government hospitals went on strike over pay and teachers threatened to also begin a work stoppage, union officials said.

"All doctors at all the country's referral hospitals are on strike," Amon Siveregi, chairman of the Zimbabwe Medical Doctors' Association, said in a telephone interview from the capital, Harare, today. "We are negotiating with government, but can't yet disclose our demands because of a confidentiality clause in our dealings."

Importers Attack Uzbekistan Trade With United States

Textile World
08/19/2008

By James A. Morrissey

A coalition of major US importers of textiles and clothing has issued a stern warning to Uzbekistan that it must cease using what they charge is child labor in cotton fields. Uzbekistan is heavily dependent on its exports of raw cotton and cotton products, which account for 20 percent of its exports and 15 percent of its gross national product.

Apparel & retail industry call for end of forced child labor

Fibre2Fashion
08/19/2008

A coalition of the four trade associations representing the U.S. apparel and retail industries hand-delivered a letter addressed to Uzbekistan President Islam Abduganievich Karimov to Ambassador of Uzbekistan H.E. Abdulaziz Kamilov in Washington, DC.

The group urged the government of Uzbekistan to take decisive and immediate actions to end the use of forced child labor in its cotton fields. According to published reports, Uzbekistan, the world’s third largest cotton exporter, is alleged to have allowed children as young as 10-15 years old to be forced to harvest cotton.

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