Blog: Right to Organize & Bargain

Modern-Day Servitude in U.S. Port Trucking: A Call to Retail Brands

October 1, 2018

Gabby Rosazza, International Labor Rights Forum

Photo Credit: International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Today, southern California’s port truck drivers and warehouse workers - many of whom are Black and Latinx workers and TPS recipients – begin a three-day strike to send a clear message to their port trucking employers (XPO Logistics and NFI Industries) and the country’s most powerful brands and retailers: put an end to rampant wage theft and the misclassification of port truckers.

How President Trump is Fueling Honduran Migration North

January 30, 2018

Gabriela Rosazza, International Labor Rights Forum

Honduran woman at anti-fraud protest in Tegucigalpa (December 2017). © Giorgio Trucchi / Rel-UITA.

Today, Juan Orlando Hernandez takes the oath of office as President of Honduras with the full support of President Trump – despite overwhelming evidence of election irregularities and allegations of fraud in last November’s presidential election in Honduras. This past week, Hondurans young and old took to the streets in a nationwide strike to denounce their stolen democracy, determined to liberate their country from what they call a de-facto dictatorship.

Put Workers at the Helm of Social Sustainability in Seafood

December 23, 2017

Abby McGill, International Labor Rights Forum

Nine workers from Ghana, India and Sri Lanka, were rescued from a U.K-flagged fishing vessel this month in a likely case of labor trafficking. They had been forced to work for months on end with no defined rest periods, for a little over $1,000 a month.

It’s Not Too Late, Ivanka

November 28, 2017

Judy Gearhart, International Labor Rights Forum

An Ivanka Trump billboard in India that reads “When Women Succeed, We All Succeed.”

As Ivanka Trump attends the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India this week, she will speak as a representative of the US government with experience as an entrepreneur, but not as a representative of the apparel company she founded, with wholesale revenues of $47 million and production orders in India and around the globe. It’s not clear which role, however, is better for helping Ms.

How Anti-Sweatshop Activists and Unions Made Severance Pay Mandatory

September 27, 2017

In August last year Iris Montoya came to work at the Rio Garment factory in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where she had worked as a sewing machine operator for 11 years. At 11 a.m., the factory lights shut off and management escorted the workers outside, locking the doors behind them.

Management announced that the factory was shutting down operations that very day. Panic broke out. Workers were told to go home, barred from retrieving their belongings, and left without their last week’s pay.

Nike Signs Factory Access Agreement

September 1, 2017

There is a thirst for truth, accuracy and transparency among the public in our current political climate, and global multinationals are no exception to those expectations.

Minimum Freedom, Minimum Wages: Legal Repression in Cambodia

July 28, 2017

Sarah Newell, International Labor Rights Forum

Minimum Freedom, Minimum Wages: Legal Repression in Cambodia

This month, the Cambodian National Institute of Statistics will carry out a survey of 1,500 garment workers in Phnom Penh in preparation for upcoming national minimum wage negotiations.