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Pakistan Factory Fires Tied to Criminal Negligence by Government and Employers

September 13, 2012

Today, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the Federal Investigation Agency will investigate these factory fires. The irony is that the government is still not upholding its responsibility to implement laws with sufficient political will in order to ensure the protection of workers' basic rights, including safe working conditions and freedom of association. Instead, the government's response is to investigate the incident as an isolated, exceptional incident.

Death Trap Factories in Pakistan

September 13, 2012

Ali Enterprises factory was an export-oriented factory that was established
illegally without being registered under the country's Factory Act. Here in Pakistan the majority of factories are not registered as required by the Factory Act, as to avoid rules and regulations and to deny workers their rights.

According to the Karachi Building Authority (KBA), the factory building was not propertly approved. In Pakistan, safety measures are seldom
observed in any workplace, and such was the case at Ali Enterprises. The 500 workers had no exit point except one at the time of emergency. All the factory windows were iron-grilled. Doorways and
stairs were stuffed with finished or semi-finished merchandise.

Simultaneous Labor Protests In Four Countries Target Hemisphere’s Largest Supplier of Adidas and Nike

August 21, 2012

Workers’ unions in the four countries formed the Gildan Union Network (Red de Sindicatos de Gildan in Spanish and Réseau de Syndicats de Gildan in French), and are demanding a meeting between top Gildan executives and representatives for each union. Gildan denied the meeting in separate letters to each union, saying such dialogue would “not be productive” due to differences in each country’s labor law. On July 25, each union delivered a letter emphasizing the abuses they face are violations of international conventions and Gildan’s own “Code of Conduct”, again urging the company to meet jointly with the unions.

Pesticides: A Labor Rights Issue

August 13, 2012

Even with dramatic underreporting, California data (Fields of Poison, 2002) on farmworker poisonings highlight the extent of the problem and demonstrate the regulatory system’s absolute failure to protect farmworkers.

Immigration Politics Keep Workers at Risk

As political rhetoric swirls around the issue of undocumented workers, little is done to address the dangers of pesticide exposure faced daily by families who cross the border to harvest US strawberries, apples or broccoli.

The Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium Adopts a New Model Policy

July 19, 2012

The Policy was drafted by Professor Robert Stumberg and his students, T. Lloyd Grove and Lindsey Scannell, of the Harrison Institute for Public Law at the Georgetown University Law School. They worked as consultants to the Consortium, with the support of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

The Georgetown advisors started with a previous model policy that had long been promoted by SweatFree Communities, a national coalition of labor rights groups, and reframed its philosophical and legal foundation. Here is a summary from the Findings section of the new model policy:

The Mind of a Child is a Terrible Thing to Waste

June 14, 2012

Hershey agreed to meet with roughly 50 members of UMW on June 13th, one day after World Day Against Child Labor. UMW invited Green America and the International Labor Rights Forum to join the meeting, however, upon arrival, we were told the meeting with Hershey would be a closed meeting, open only to members of UMW. Hershey was likely scared we would ask them tough questions. For example, What is the actual reach and impact of the initiatives you have launched in Ghana in improving farmer livlihoods? Or, When will Hershey commit to sourcing indepentely certified child-labor-free cocoa for all of its products, as some of its competitors have pledged to do?

Philippines Labor Groups Unite in May Day Mobilization

May 31, 2012

The imperative to unite and fight for the dignity of workers is the spark for the formation of Nagkaisa which embraces the major labor centers and groups in the Philippines for the first time since the 1980’s. The unity forged among some 40 labor organizations to advance the struggle for immediate and strategic demands is a key component of the renewal and revival of the labor movement. A strong militant labor movement is the foundation for the working class to regain its place as the tribune of the people and vanguard of social change.

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