New evidence of forced labor against Procter & Gamble’s joint venture partner, Malaysian company FGV
01/17/20
This week, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) announced it is suspending certification bids for the non-certified units of FGV Holdings Berhad (FGV) — one of Malaysia’s largest palm oil companies and a joint venture partner of Procter & Gamble — as well as re-imposing the RSPO’s suspension of FGV’s mill unit Kilang Sawit Serting.
A year ago, tens of thousands of workers in Bangladesh went on strike against the poverty wages that are pervasive in the country’s export-oriented garment industry. On January 13, 2019, a minimal wage revision was announced that, together with massive repression, led workers to end the demonstrations that had been going on since December. Thousands of workers were unable to go back to work, however, facing punishment for their peaceful protest through politically-motivated dismissals, blacklisting, and criminal charges.
Laws Needed to Ensure Companies Adopt Human Rights Practices
12/18/19
Clothing and footwear brands and retailers have dramatically increased their disclosure of information about their supply chains in the past three years, a coalition of unions, human rights groups, and labor rights advocates said in a joint report released today.
In the wake of the U.S. government suspending billions of dollars in trade preferences for Thailand due to worker rights issues, organizations participating in the Seafood Working Group released a statement on Human Rights Day strongly urging the Thai government to undertake the necessary reforms to have the trade benefits reinstated. The 24 organizations also urged global companies buying seafood from Thailand to ensure that workers’ rights are fully protected in their supply chains.
First Move Toward Adopting ‘Transparency Pledge,’ Supply Chain Justice
11/20/19
Amazon took a useful first step toward transparency on November 15, 2019 by publicly disclosing on its website the names, addresses, and other details of over 1,000 facilities that produce Amazon-branded products, a broad coalition of human rights groups, labor rights organizations, and global unions said today.
Cotton Campaign and Uzbek Government Deepen Dialogue, Urgent Work Remains
11/01/19
The Cotton Campaign met with the government of Uzbekistan in Washington last week to discuss reform efforts to end forced labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest, which is currently underway. The Uzbek delegation, headed by Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov, presented its Roadmap to combat forced labor, which seeks to address the key concerns raised by the Cotton Campaign in its dialogue with the government.
The Cotton Campaign calls on the Uzbek government to drop criminal charges against Mahmud Rajab, a poet, journalist, and human rights defender, whose trial on contraband charges is set to begin Thursday. The government should also stop interfering with independent reporting on human rights issues, including forced labor.
Seven years since the Ali Enterprises factory fire of 2012, in which over 250 workers were killed, textile and garment factories in Pakistan remain as unsafe as they were then, warns a report launched today. Initiatives established in the past years have failed to put workers and the unions that represent them in the centre of their programs and therefore will fail to meaningfully address the industry’s safety issues.
Sentenced in retaliation for reporting on forced labor in cotton fields
09/09/19
Gaspar Matalaev, a labor rights monitor from Turkmenistan, was released from prison on September 6 after three years’ imprisonment in retaliation for his reporting on forced labor, the Cotton Campaign said today. A court in Turkmenabat sentenced Matalaev on spurious charges of fraud in 2016 and Matalaev served the entire three-year sentence.
A building safety initiative launching in India today, aimed at improving safety for workers in the country’s garment industry, is set on a path to ignore workers’ voices and replicate mistakes from the past. Although the “Life and Building Safety Initiative” professes to learn from the program that made factories safe in Bangladesh after the Rana Plaza building collapse, it ignores its most vital elements.
Procter & Gamble major importer of “illicit” palm oil products produced by Malaysia’s FGV
08/15/19
Today a coalition of labor, environmental, and social justice NGOs filed a formal complaint with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), seeking to stop the importation of palm oil products produced by FGV Holdings Berhad (FGV), one of Malaysia’s largest palm oil companies and a joint venture partner of Procter & Gamble.
The International Labor Rights Forum celebrates the International Labour Organization’s adoption of both a Convention and a Recommendation on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. The historic treaty passed today at the ILO’s centennial assembly in a 439-7 vote, with 30 abstentions.
Uzbekistan Stays at Tier 2 – Still Work to do to End Forced Labor
06/21/19
For the fourth year in a row, the Government of Turkmenistan failed to meet the minimum standards to address human trafficking outlined in the 2019 US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, resulting in a Tier 3 ranking – the lowest possible ranking.
As witness signatories to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, we are concerned about the potential negative impact on worker safety, both short-term and long-term, of the recently concluded Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Accord and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the diverging interpretations that have emerged over the last few weeks.[1]
Labor Rights Groups Urge Other Supermarkets to Make their Business with Fyffes Contingent on Remediation of Labor Violations
06/11/19
Following letters to Costco Wholesale from Fair World Project and the International Labor Rights Forum urging the retailer to make future purchase orders with fruit company Fyffes contingent on the cessation of labor rights violations, Costco has confirmed that it has not placed future orders for melons from the Fyffes operations where ongoing violations occur. Fyffes is an Irish multinational company owned by the Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo, and is one of the largest fruit brands in the world.
Thirteen human rights and environmental groups express concern over revised Chain of Custody certification
06/10/19
A group of leading labor, human rights, and environmental organizations released a statement today expressing concern over the labor requirements in the Marine Stewardship Council’s revised Chain of Custody certification for on-shore seafood operations. The new requirements, released earlier this year, will not be effective in identifying, preventing and protecting seafood workers from labor rights violations, the statement says.
On the sixth anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse, labor rights groups are calling on the government of Bangladesh to cease attempts to expel the Accord on Fire and Building Safety from Bangladesh and to urgently increase safety efforts for the buildings currently under the government’s oversight, which include tens of thousands of factories across all industries.
The government of Bangladesh is using proceedings before the Supreme Court of Bangladesh to prevent the Accord on Fire and Building Safety from operating, thereby putting workers’ safety at risk. A ruling on 7 April in Bangladesh’s Appellate Court could require the Accord to close its Dhaka office and operations without taking into account whether national agencies would be ready to take up the work.
Amount is Approximately Half of What Chairman Stephen Schwarzman Reportedly Spent on His 70th Birthday Party; International Social Media Campaign Launched to Persuade Financial Giant to Do What Other Apparel Players Now Do
04/02/19
In light of new reporting by Ken Silverstein, the International Labor Rights Forum, AFL-CIO, United Students Against Sweatshops, and Global Labor Justice are calling on the Blackstone Group to pay Indonesian workers $10.8 million in legally owed terminal benefits.
