In the News

Judge Asked to Delay Drummond Trial on Union Slaying

Birmingham News
05/31/2007

By Russell Hubbard

Lawyers for three slain Colombian coal miners who are suing Drummond Co. in Birmingham have asked for an extra 180 days to get ready for the wrongful death trial slated to start July 9.

The lawyers representing the families of the dead men, their labor union, and international labor rights organizations said in a court filing last week they have discovered a third last-minute witness who needs time to get ready before he can testify at the trial.

Drummond expected to testify

Birmingham News
05/30/2007

By Russell Hubbard

Garry Neil Drummond plans to testify at the upcoming trial of his coal mining company over the death of union activists in Colombia, according to court records.

The president of family-owned Drummond Co. is listed as a primary witness by lawyers for the firm in papers recently filed with U.S. District Court in Birmingham. He is listed as an optional witness by lawyers for the families and labor union of three men slain in 2001 in Colombia, where Birmingham-based Drummond Co. operates a vast surface coal mine.

Plantation Workers Look for Justice in the North

Los Angeles Times
05/27/2007

CHINANDEGA, Nicaragua - The people crammed into the stifling basketball gym. They filled the court, lined the walls and tumbled beyond the doors onto the sun-blistered streets.

They had gathered to hear a promise of justice.

Many had spent their lives toiling on banana plantations that U.S. companies operated in this region some 30 years ago. By day, the workers had harvested bunches of fruit to ship to North American tables. At night, some had sprayed pesticide into the warm, humid air to protect the trees from insects and rot...  

Balls and Chains

Spiegel Online
05/26/2007

The world's footballs are made in Sialkot, Pakistan. But the city's relative prosperity is under threat - from rival producers in the Far East and human rights activists in the West.

The buildings huddle on the city's outskirts, at the end of the road where the stubbled fields begin. Water is in short supply. The grass is tough and lean. As are the goats, the sheep, the buffalo - and the people. A picture of monotony.

Keep a close watch on Firestone's abuse

Baltimore Sun
05/23/2007

As The Sun's article on Firestone's rubber plantation in Liberia notes, the tire company has been the target of a worldwide campaign and lawsuit because of its 80 years of exploitation of Liberia ("Fragile Liberia struggles to protect a crucial industry," May 20).

The Firestone plantation has been characterized by child labor and widespread abuses of workers' rights, and a report from the Liberian government recently confirmed that the company dumps toxic chemicals into local rivers.

Firestone, Salala Not Beneficial to Us

The Analyst
05/21/2007

Citizens of Margibi County have indicted that Firestone rubber plantation and the Salala rubber company that operate in the county are insensitive to the developmental needs of the county and its people ever since the rubber estates begun operating in there.

They said the two companies are particularly not beneficial to them. They gave their impression of the rubber estates Unification Town at a meeting aimed at brainstorming to find a sustainable development drives for the county and its people under the Johnson-Sirleaf's government.

Flower power: A blooming movement for change

CBC NEWS
05/09/2007

Roses for North America are largely grown in Colombia, Latin America's largest flower exporter. Some farms are certified as being environmentally sound and having good labour practices. Most are not. (Fernando Vergara/Associated Press)

We love to "say it with flowers," as the slogan goes from florists around the world. In fact, there's a veritable cacophony of bouquets changing hands out there. Canadians, Americans, Europeans and others are giving each other roses, carnations and chrysanthemums — the big three of cut flowers — like never before... 

Taking it to Drummond: Paramilitaries and Mining Companies in Colombia

Counter Punch
05/05/2007

By Stephen F. Jackson

He in his signature "guayabera" and me in my gringo cowboy shirt, we perch in the salubrious, tropical breeze of the Caribbean night in Cartagena, palm trees rustling over the veranda of the colonial restaurant. Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells me that "Colombia is immersed in a holocaust of Biblical proportions."

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