HUMAN RIGHTS DAY : 5 ‘Scrooge’ multinationals named

Philippine Daily Inquirer
12/10/2008
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By Jerome Aning

As the world observes the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), five multinational corporations, including four operating in the Philippines, were named Wednesday by an international labor rights group in its “Working for Scrooge” list this year.

In a statement posted on its website (www.laborrights.org), the Washington DC-based International Labor Rights Forum identified what it branded as “five worst companies for the right to associate,” namely Nestlé (with alleged violations in the Philippines, Colombia, Peru, Russia and Pakistan), Dole (with alleged violations in the Philippines, Costa Rica and Colombia), Del Monte (with alleged violations in Guatemala and the Philippines), Russell (which is owned by Fruit of the Loom and has allegedly violated workers’ rights in Honduras and Uzbekistan) and Wal-Mart (with alleged violations in the United States, Canada, Philippines, and Cambodia).

The companies were accused of union intimidation, preventing union formation and other violations against union organizations.

ILRF said that among other rights related to workers, the UDHR stated that “everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests” (Article 23, Section 4).

The group said that the US-based companies on ILRF’s list would use intimidation and even violence to violate their workers’ internationally recognized right to organize.

ILRF has launched an e-mail drive on its website to call on the companies to stop alleged labor rights violations.

“As we commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, consumers and labor rights advocates globally can support the human rights of workers by letting these companies know that they need to respect the right to organize,” ILRF executive director Bama Athreya said.

ILRF lamented that despite the labor rights protections in the UDHR, United Nations and International Labor Organization declarations and national labor laws, workers continued to see their rights trampled on a daily basis.

The group cited a recent survey of violations of trade union rights, the International Trade Union Confederation, which reported that at least 91 unionists were killed globally as a result of their organizing efforts in 2007.