In the News

Agri-groups are fighting anti-child labor bill, group warns

FoodNavigator-USA.com
04/08/2008

By Charlotte Eyre

A US advocacy organization has accused commodity companies Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Cargill of lobbying against a bill that would protect against child labor practices in supply countries.

According to the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), ADM and Cargill are against section 3104 of the Farm Bill, which was put forward in 2007. This particular section calls for the voluntary certification of child labor status in relation to agricultural imports, in an effort to stamp out the practice.

Sweatshop laborers back unions

Goshen News
04/07/2008

Phal Savin of Cambodia spent many years sewing clothing for Wal-Mart. A mother of five, she was recently fired for trying to form a union.
She is now vice president of the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU).

Didier Leiton of Costa Rica worked for 17 years on pineapple and banana plantations and is now an organizer with the Union of Agricultural and Plantation Workers. He has been “blacklisted” by the plantations for his activities with the union.

Rights award night bittersweet for militant RP priest

Philippine Daily Inquirer
04/01/2008

By TJ Burgonio

MANILA, Philippines—For Fr. Jose “Joe” Dizon, the awards night in a posh hotel in South Korea was a sweet moment tinged with sadness.

The 59-year-old militant priest received the Justice and Peace Award of the Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Foundation on behalf of the Workers’ Assistance Center Inc. (WAC) on March 10 at the Sejong Hotel in Seoul.

The WAC, a Church-based NGO founded by Dizon in 1995 to empower factory workers in the export processing zone in Cavite, was cited for promoting workers’ rights and welfare amid repression.

Flower workers reject the Free Trade Agreement between the US and Colombia

Media Release: Flower Workers Reject the Colombia FTA
03/31/2008

With regards United States President George W. Bush’s current request of the U.S. Congress in which he asks them to urgently approve the Free Trade Agreement that was signed with the Colombian government in 2006, we the Colombian flower workers would like to make clear the following to our people and to the North American Congress:

Report: GE supplier in China accused of labor abuses

USA Today
03/25/2008

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A new report says a Chinese factory that makes light bulbs for Connecticut-based General Electric (GE) subjects many of its employees to 64-hour work weeks and toxic mercury used in the production process.

Cleveland-based Policy Matters Ohio accuses Xiamen Topstar Lighting Co. of violating China's labor law and GE's own corporate policies. Xiamen Topstar is a joint venture between Topstar in China and Fairfield, Conn.-based GE... 

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