In the News

Unions at ILO meeting say Colombia violence growing

Reuters
06/08/2009

By Jonathan Lynn

Colombian and international trade unionists condemned violence against workers in the Latin American country on Monday and said the government was not doing enough to stop it.

A committee of experts at the International Labour Organisation had reported that Colombia was making progress, but worker representatives at the United Nations agency's committee on labour standards disagreed.

Call for "global jobs pact" amidst rising job losses

SUNS
06/05/2009

Third World Network

Geneva, 2 Jun (Riaz K. Tayob) -- The International Labour Organization's ninety-eighth tripartite conference gets under way from 3-19 June amidst the latest ILO labour market projections showing a further increase in the number of unemployed, working poor and those in vulnerable employment.

The conference is expected to consider an emergency "global jobs pact" designed to promote a coordinated policy response to the global jobs crisis.

Liberia: Community demands answers on rubber pollution

IRIN News
06/04/2009

People living next to Firestone Natural Rubber Company's plantation in Harbel, 45km outside of Liberia's capital Monrovia, say pollution from the concession is destroying their health, ruining their livelihoods and even killing residents.

On 4 June parliamentarians called on the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to declare why the agency has not yet published the results of a 22 May EPA investigation into the allegations.

Firestone's Liberia rubber concession is the second largest rubber producer in Africa and employs some 14,000 Liberians.

'Firestone Say We Must Die': Residents Decry Pollution; Advocate Weighs Suit

Front Page Africa
06/01/2009

By Samwar S. Fallah

Residents of about six towns few miles from Harbel, the headquarters of the largest rubber plantations company in Africa, Firestone are struggling with the situation of water pollution as the company discharges the huge wastes produced from the processing of raw rubber for export into nearby creeks used by local residents for drinking.

The harsh necessity of child labour

BBC
05/29/2009

Click here to see a related video from BBC News.

By James Melik and Duncan Bartlett

As one of the world's leading suppliers of ready made garments , Bangladesh frequently encounters hostile criticism over the use of child labour in its textile industry.

Western retailers have rushed to assure conscience-stricken consumers that steps are taken to eradicate the practice, and in 2006 the Bangladeshi government passed a new labour law.

Making cotton as homework for Uzbek children

Asia News
05/26/2009

In Fergana province Uzbek children have odd school homework to do. Teachers recently gave them the assignment of making at least 200 paper funnels each, add soil and plant cotton seeds inside.

This is the latest experiment in cotton farming introduced by the government in a country where cotton is the main export product.

In fact schools and universities are closed from September to December, when cotton is picked, and students sent to the fields.

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