One
of the biggest challenges facing poor countries in terms of trade policy is the
fact that all trade negotiations virtually take place in secret. While corporations
enjoy a seat at the table, unions and non-governmental organizations—which
represent average people—are denied access to information and a voice in the
negotiations. If we truly want to fight poverty, unions and representatives of
developing countries need to have a seat at the negotiating table. Their insights

The news is the latest in a series of reports that have been coming out of Colombia showing the links between the government, paramilitary groups and corporations.  In March, Chiquita admitted to paying millions of dollars to the AUC paramilitary group, which is considered a terrorist group by the US State Department.  The ILRF lawsuit against Drummond, an Alabama-based coal company, which alleges that the company paid paramilitaries to torture, kidnap and murder union leaders has also been getting media coverage.

This is just another case of Wal-Mart trying to buy out communities by
offering scholarships to migrant women so that they are able to receive a
better education. If Wal-Mart was really
serious about supporting the education of its migrant women factory workers,
why don’t they encourage their suppliers to train women for management level
positions. Of course Wal-Mart would
never do anything so systemic but rather make insulting attempts to make others
think they care about their workers. At
the end of the day, Wal-Mart has just continued to allow blatant worker rights
violations flourish in their Chinese factories and even worse when a problem is
found, then Wal-Mart runs away from the factory. 

Attendees of the Green Festival were also particularly
astonished to hear that a chocolate company based in their own city, World’s