Blog

New Firestone Campaign Video!

May 30, 2008

This video features interviews with two child laborers on a
rubber plantation in Liberia operated by the Firestone tire company.
Workers have to meet a daily production quota which is too high for one
person to achieve or their low wages are halved. As a result, workers
are forced to bring their children to work.

For more information about Firestone and to get involved in the campaign, please visit www.StopFirestone.org -- and most importantly, send an e-mail to Firestone by clicking here!

Tiger Woods and Corporate Abuse

May 29, 2008

Meanwhile, Chevron has been accused of horrific abuses during the
construction of its gas pipeline in Burma, its been sued for allegedly
supplying the Nigerian army with weapons to attack protesters near
their operations there and Chevron is also faced with lawsuits against
their toxic waste dumping in Alaska, Canada, Angola and California.
They have also been sued for polluting the rainforest in Ecuador
which led to an epidemic of cancer in indigenous communities there.

Sweatshop and the City

May 22, 2008

While shopping for the newest
styles, the characters never once stop to think about who made the trendy
products they love or the condition they work under. These four women spend
their days shopping and sitting in fashion shows and their night making the
streets of Manhattan their own runway but they have been chosen to only see the
shiny exterior of the fashion world, never opting to think about the women who
endure 11 hour days sewing their designer outfits.

Earthquake in China, Support for Workers

May 19, 2008

If you want to donate to the relief effort, the following are a few
organizations accepting donations and a few guides to donating:

Red Cross Society of China

http://202.108.59.10/english/

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/xw/t434820.htm

Mercy Corps

http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake/?source=1062

Oxfam Hong Kong

https://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/donate/donate?donate_id=45

The World Bank, the Food Crisis and Child Labor

May 16, 2008

ILRF did a report a few years ago focusing on the affect of World Bank policies on Cote d'Ivoire.  This country, which used to be the symbol of prosperity in West Africa, started dealing with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in 1989.  As part of accepting loans form the WB and IMF, Cote d'Ivoire had to liberalize the coffee and cocoa sectors, reduce government expenditures on services like schools and health and devaluate its currency. 

Roots of Immigration -- Need a Variety of New Policies

May 16, 2008

There is another dilemma in international migration, and that is, the
frequent assumption that all migrants are poor people, who move to seek
a better economic situation elsewhere. But not all who move are poor,
an example is the contract labor in the Middle East from other
countries, who are often middle-class people, as well the case of
recent immigrants to the United States, which include highly educated
professionals.

Gulf Coast Guestworkers Launch Hunger Strike Against Labor Abuses

May 15, 2008

After Hurricane Katrina the U.S. company worked with U.S. and Indian
recruiters to traffic over 500 welders and pipe-fitters from India to
the Gulf Coast to use as cheap labor on Signal’s shipyards. Each of the
workers paid $20,000 based on the false promise that they would be
given permanent residency status in the U.S. for working with the
company. Instead the workers were given temporary H2B worker visas,
chaining them like slaves to Signal and facilitating their
exploitation. The workers were forced to pay $1,050 a month to live on
company property with 24 men to a room. Under the H2B program, the
company has readily threatened workers with deportation and cracked

CAFTA Exposed: Omar Salazar Highlights 3 Weak Points in Labor Enforcement and 3 Reasons Why It Was Passed

May 12, 2008

Omar
persuasively made the case that while there is more funding for CAFTA-related
trade each year, the same labor violations continue to occur. Judges’
education on labor laws or labor union access to lawmakers has not changed.
Omar’s talk convinced me that entrepreneurs and private organizations in these
countries are rich and dangerous, which is compounded by the U.S. government
wanting to strengthen labor laws that are not even currently recognized.
During the question-and-answer, he pointed out that attacks on trade unions are
just as bad as those in Colombia, with seven labor leaders dead and six
accused criminally throughout Central America. The union movement is, however,
not as strong as it is in South America.

Thoughts from the Jobs With Justice National Conference

May 12, 2008

Beth Myers:

Working in the movement
for social justice is hard. We all know this but we often don’t admit it. There
are days when you just feel tired and defeated both in you heart and in your
body. Sometimes it feels as though we aren’t making as much of a difference as
we want. With this in mind, it is vital that those of us who fighting for a more
just economy find the time to reconnect with our allies and refocus on the core
missions of our work. The Jobs With Justice Conference was definitely one of
those opportunities for me.  The conference brought together some of the best
and brightest who have chosen to devote their time and energy to building a
better country and world.

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