Publications

Pick All the Cotton: Update on Uzbekistan's Use of Forced Child Labor in 2009 Harvest

Publication Date: 

December 4, 2009

This report evaluates the continued use of forced child labor in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan.  The update is based on information gathered by human rights defenders within  Uzbekistan from September through November 2009.  Contrary to the government of Uzbekistan’s assertions that it has banned forced child labor, this report indicates that the government continues to compel children to pick cotton, closing schools and using other coercive measures to enforce compliance.

Recommendations to Improve GSP Labor Rights Criteria and Review Process

Publication Date: 

December 1, 2009

It is the position of ILRF that the labor criteria for all trade preference programs should be updated. Reforms must be undertaken to ensure a fair and manageable petition review process that includes reviews for both country compliance and industry compliance with the labor eligibility criteria. Most importantly, the USTR must also have a clear understanding, achievable only through direct Congressional mandates, that respect for core labor rights at both the country and industry level.

2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame

Publication Date: 

November 17, 2009

The Sweatshop Hall of Shame 2010 highlights apparel and textile companies that use sweatshops in their global production. Hall of Shame inductees are responsible for evading fair labor standards and often are slow to respond or provide no response at all to any attempts by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), workers, or others to improve working conditions.

Precarious Work: How temporary jobs and subcontracting undermines women, migrants and workers’ rights to decent work

Publication Date: 

July 7, 2009

Employers around the world are creating precarious forms of work to destroy unions, cut labor costs and avoid being held responsible for their own employees. Precarious work is created when permanent, regular jobs are replaced by subcontracted labor and temporary, short-term jobs. Workers around the world are uniting to call for permanent, decent jobs.

This document provides a number of case studies of how US corporations abuse of contract labor and how women and migrants see the effects.

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