Blog

Nestle Still Doesn't Get It

January 18, 2007
We have repeatedly requested that Nestle take responsibility for
its cocoa supply chain in Ivory Coast and are still waiting for clarification on
what the company has done to take the few simple, basic steps that we and others
requested years ago.  These include:

*Provide transparency of your supply
chain.  The farmers know which multinationals are buying their cocoa- why, then,
is it so hard for the multinationals to identify which farmers are selling to
them?

*Create contracts with the farmers.  Nestle can be assured farmers
will do the right thing if the farmers can be assured that Nestle will honor its
arrangements with them.

Walmart's Energy Savings Cost Workers

January 4, 2007

The story notes that Philips manufactures CFL bulbs in Asia, and GE is
portrayed as worried that a big increase in CFL sales could take jobs
away from its US-produced incandescent bulbs.  The story says that in
meetings with suppliers, WMT buyers pushed for lower prices for CFLs.
Has Walmart, and have the big environmental groups advising it,
considered how suppliers will manage to enforce work place codes of
conduct and ensure fair compensation of workers as prices are cut to
induce US consumers to become more energy efficient?

American Apparel goes public but what will this mean for workers?

December 21, 2006

Dov Charney built this business and has remained controversial with
his sexist antics as cataloged in multiple print articles over the
years. (You can find a small smattering of them on Musicians Against Sweatshops' website and knowmore.org.)
American Apparel gained worldwide notoriety (and sales) for their
sweatshop free claim yet for years many among the anti sweatshop
activist community have remained very critical of American Apparel's
self designation.

Attention Liberians: Beware of Foreign Investors!

December 20, 2006

What Keating doesn’t note is that child labor and violations of
internationally recognized labor rights are still rampant on the
Firestone rubber plantation.  Beyond just bad publicity, organizations
in Liberia, the US and around the world are pressuring Firestone to
take responsibility for human rights violations in their rubber
production and have formed the Stop Firestone coalition.

Ecuadorians eliminate businessman notorious for labor rights violations from the presidential seat

December 19, 2006

Fortunately for Ecuadorian workers, Noboa is not president-elect. The
winning candidate, Rafael Correa, is more left-leaning and hopes to
unite South American countries to gain more favorable trading
possibilities. He has also said that he will not sign the free trade
agreement with the United States - this is also good news for local
workers, who are offered no real protections for their labor rights
under this proposed FTA.

"Africa: Why not buy a continent this Christmas?"

November 29, 2006

The funny thing is that so many corporations are actually buying and
selling something close to this concept for Christmas this year.
Shopping for charity is the latest new thing according to such august
sources as the New York Times,
and Africa is a particularly favorite conceptual destination for
holiday shoppers, ever since the big push started by Bono and
colleagues around the 2005 G-8 summit- does anyone remember the
worldwide rock concerts in July of that year, "Live 8"?  Too bad that
according to our informal survey (of the Live 8 concert in
Philadelphia), most of the audience had no idea that the concerts were

Dole's plant closure at Splendor-Corzo: A response to economic hardship or part of an anti-union campaign?

November 21, 2006

The preferential trade deal that Ecuador has had with the US until
now may have increased employment in the local flower industry, but
those jobs are characterized by minimum-wage salaries, forced overtime,
sexual harassment and abuse, pesticide poisoning, and illegal pregnancy
testing.  The proposed new Colombia-US and Ecuador-US free trade
agreements do not include any real protections for workers’ fundamental
labor rights, and would only serve to further entrench such precarious
and inhumane conditions.  Nevertheless, on Nov 10, President Bush spoke
with President Uribe of Colombia and reassured him that he fully
supports the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, which will be signed
on November 22nd.

Wyclef supports Haiti bill without consideration of impacts on Haitian workers

November 20, 2006

Pushing for a renewal of trade benefits without a serious look at
the negative impacts these jobs provide is very short sighted.  If
Wyclef was serious about promoting jobs that are good for Haitians, he
would consider a more nuanced approach which would force those that set
up shop in Haiti to also respect freedom of association, safe working
conditions, and a wage that will support a family.  There are currently
factory workers that struggle on a daily basis, and simply renewing the
trade rules for Haiti will do little to help improve the quality of
living for Haitians.

ILRF Engages Firestone in Journalistic Crossfire

November 14, 2006

Tim Newman from the ILRF responded to Pulliam’s column with a letter to the editor entitled “Demand Dignity for Firestone Workers in Liberia”,
published on October 16. The letter from the ILRF provoked Dan
Adomitis, President of the Firestone Natural Rubber Co., to respond to
his own letter that was published October 29 entitled “Firestone is Force for Progress and Hope in Liberia”.
Adomitis claims in his letter that Firestone does not hire workers
under the age of 18.  While Firestone may not officially "hire"

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