Blog: May 2015

Ten Years after Uzbekistan’s Massacre, the Tragedy Continues to Unfold

May 13, 2015
Credit: © Shamil Zhumatov/Corbi

This is a guest post from Open Society Foundations, a long-time ILRF partner in the Cotton Campaign to end forced labor in Uzbekistan's cotton harvest, to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Andijan Massacre in Uzbekistan. For more on this tragic event, please watch this chilling video from Human Rights Watch, another ally in the Cotton Campaign. ILRF partner Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights has also posted pieces in both French and Russian.

From Slavery to Debt-Bondage: Big Tobacco’s Addiction to Cheap Labor

May 12, 2015
NC tobacco rally

I was in North Carolina last week, marching through the streets of Winston-Salem with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) to demand collective bargaining rights for farmworkers who harvest tobacco. As these workers shared their stories about unjust conditions in the fields and sub-poverty earnings, I was struck by the similarities between tobacco industry exploitation in my own country and what our partners in Malawi, the Center for Social Concern (CSC) and Tobacco and Allied Workers Union of Malawi (TOAWUM), are fighting against.

The TPP's dirty labor laundry

May 7, 2015

The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is being touted as a “21st century” trade agreement that will contain strong and enforceable labor standards to ensure our trade partners honor their promise to uphold workers’ fundamental rights.  

But if history is any guide, labor rights advocates should remain deeply skeptical of any such claims.

Legislation introduced in April aims to provide the President with trade promotion authority (aka “fast track”), a procedure that requires Congress to vote on proposed trade deals with limited debate and no opportunity to offer amendments.

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