International Labor Rights Fund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since August 2006 . (help, talk)

Logo of the International Labor Rights Fund

The International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world". ILRF was founded in 1986. The organization's mission statement reads, "ILRF believes that all workers have the right to a safe working environment where they are treated with dignity and respect, and where they can organize freely to defend and promote their rights and interests. ILRF works to develop practical and effective tools to assist workers in winning enforcement of protections for their basic rights, and hold labor rights violators accountable."

ILRF, working in coalition with other human rights and sweatshop-oriented NGOs, uses a diverse range of mechanisms to promote its vision of labor rights.

According to its website, the ILRF has worked directly to promote labor rights through:

• Research and publication

• Public campaigning and media outreach

• Promoting new ILO Conventions and their ratification

• Promoting reform of US legislation

• Advising multinational corporations on issues of corporate social responsibility

• Using litigation, especially the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), to hold corporations accountable

• Using trade-related complaints processes to hold governments accountable

1 Current Campaigns
2 Notes
3 External links

[edit] Current Campaigns

[edit] Fairness in Flowers

In 2005, ILRF opened its first field office in Quito, Ecuador. The field office principally supports women workers in the cut flower industry through the Fairness in Flowers Campaign. Ecuador and Colombia are major exporters of cut flowers to the United States and European markets. Workers on cut flower plantations are routinely subjected to high levels of toxic pesticides without proper health and safety equipment. These women must also contend with gender-based labor rights violations such as sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. ILRF's Quito office advocates on behalf of these workers and supports a legal center that helps them bring work-related grievances against their employers.

[edit] Firestone in Liberia

In 1926, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company opened what it claims is the world's biggest rubber plantation in Liberia, West Africa. In 2005, "tappers" (workers who extract latex from rubber trees) on the Liberian plantation filed an ATCA lawsuit against Bridgestone Firestone. The workers accuse the company of serious labor abuses, including exploitative child labor, which they claim amount to modern-day slavery. Workers specifically claim that Firestone's high daily quotas force them to employ their own children, subjecting them to grueling and dangerous work conditions. In response to the claims, the president of Firestone Natural Rubber told a CNN interviewer that "each tapper will tap about 650 trees a day, where they spend perhaps a couple of minutes at each tree." As the network pointed out, this would add up to more than 21 hours of work per day. ^[1]

Firestone's request to transfer the case to Indianapolis, Indiana from California was granted in April 2006. ^[2]

In May 2006, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) released a report detailing the state of human rights on Liberia's rubber plantations. According to the report, Firestone managers in Liberia admitted that the company does not effectively monitor its own policy prohibiting child labor. UNMIL found that several factors contribute to the occurrence of child labor on Firestone plantations: pressure to meet company quotas, incentive to support the family financially, and lack of access to basic education. The report also noted that workers' housing provided by Firestone has not been renovated since the houses were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s.

[edit] Walmart Breaks the Rules

This section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since August 2006.

Workers abroad who labor in Wal-Mart’s suppliers’ factories routinely experience…John Doe v. Wal-Mart. International Labor Rights Fund.

Forced Labor :In violation of law, workers are routinely forced to work overtime, often 16-18 hours a day.

Minimum Wage Violations:Many workers are paid up to 30% below their country’s legal minimum wage.

Maternity Leave Violations:Most female workers are denied their egal maternity leave and their benefits.

Overtime Pay Violations:Workers are rarely, if ever, paid overtime. Although they often work more than twice the legal number of hours in a week, they are not paid more than their regular wages.

Health Care Violations:The health clinics that many countries require their factories to have often do not exist and workers are not provided with basic safety equipment, such as dust masks.

Right to Form Independent Unions Denied:More than 80% of Wal-Mart’s merchandise suppliers are in China, where workers do not have the right of freedom of association.

Bathroom Breaks Violations:any of the factories, workers need a ticket and permission to use the bathroom. Their breaks are timed.

[edit] Walmart Testimonials

Wal-Mart is in the newspapers everyday because of their streamlined supply chain but there is a downside to Wal-Mart’s so-called efficient business model. And this downside is felt by workers around the world toiling for long hours to produce Wal-Mart’s products that are sold so cheaply.

Here are just a few of the stories from workers around the world Below are some stories of Wal-Mart sweatshops workers from around the world. And behind these stories are families and hardship that continues to live on. Some of the stories are anonymous in order to protect the workers.

Chinese Worker #1 I am a worker at a toy factory in Shenzhen, China that makes toys for Wal-Mart. I was forced to work overtime, paid below the minimum wage, and denied full overtime pay. I had to work so much overtime I was not allowed to take holidays off, weekly days off, or daily rest periods mandated by the labor laws of China. My factory also withheld the first three months of my pay which has prevented me from leaving my job because if I left, I wouldn’t be entitled to the pay the factory owes me.

Chinese Worker #2 I am a worker at a toy and garment factory in mainland China where I have worked as a sewing machine operator. I have been forced to work overtime on a regular basis. I am also not provided the proper safety equipment which means that from time to time my fingers will be pricked from needles. I try to work as fast as I can just to make the daily quota but it seems once I reach the quota, the factory management increases it. I often can’t take days off even on holidays even though this is something mandated by Chinese law. The worst part of all is that I, along with my co-workers, are told to punch out after 9 hours of work and then have to stay in the factory until our quota is met without being paid for that time. I fear that if I stand up to the factory management, I will be blacklisted and unable to find a job anywhere else.

Florie Arevalo, Filipino worker:I have been a garment factory worker since I was very young. Years ago I came together with my co-workers and formed a union at Chong Won Fashions. This factory is located inside of a free trade zone in the Philippines where I have to have an ID just to enter the area. Since that time the factory management has transferred me through the factory in hopes that I won’t be able to develop friendships with any of my co-workers. Even though we have a union, the factory won’t negotiate a contract which prevents us from trying to get a raise and making the factory safer. My salary is about half of what I need in order to meet my needs. On occasions I have been forced to work as many as 24 hours straight with only an hour or two break. My factory produces Wal-Mart shirts including the Wal-Mart brands No Boundaries. I also have seen orders for Jordache which are then sold in Wal-Mart. My job currently is to keep track of the number of pieces for each order. In February 2006, I came to the United States to take part in a speaking tour so that Americans could hear my story. I have since returned to work at Chong Won Fashions.

Damarys Mesa Guillen, Nicaraguan worker:I am 28 years old and have worked at Mil Colores Factory for the last 2 years which is located in the Saratoga Free Trade Zone in Sandino City, Nicaragua. I am one of the leaders of the independent trade union at my factory which is affiliated with CST-Joes Benito Escobar. I work as a final inspector for the blue jeans that are produced in my factory. My factory produces almost exclusively for Wal-Mart brands Faded Glory and White Stag. I have to work 9.5 hours a day Monday-Saturday. I make only about 60% of what I need to support my family. I live with my daughter, mother and sister. In addition to working at the factory, I also have to take on small jobs on Sundays such as washing clothing to make enough money. I constantly struggle to support my family. In the past I have had a hard time trying to get a day off of work to take my 10 year old daughter to the doctors. We are required to ask if we may use the bathroom and oftentimes the supervisor will say no. Other times we are not allowed to even take a break to get some water. I continue to fight for what is right and just at my factory but it is hard when we are up against big companies like Wal-Mart.

[edit] ExxonMobil in Aceh, Indonesia

There have been credible reports dating back to at least 1992 that Exxon Mobil Corporation, along with its predecessor companies, Mobil Oil Corporation and Mobil Oil Indonesia (collectively "ExxonMobil"), hired military units of the Indonesian national army to provide security for their natural gas extraction and liquification project in Aceh, Indonesia. Members of these military units have regularly perpetrated severe human rights abuses against local villagers, including murder, rape, torture, destruction of property and other acts of terror. ExxonMobil apparently has taken no action to stop this violence, and instead, reportedly has continued to finance the military and to provide company equipment and facilities that have been used by the Indonesian military to perpetrate and literally cover up (in the form of mass graves) these criminal acts.

[edit] Child Labor

Approximately 211 million of the world’s children, between the ages of 5 and 14, work at least part time, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the tripartite body representing governments, labor, and employees. Of these, 120 million children are working full time to help support their impoverished families. Although child labor is most common in developing countries, it is found throughout the world, including in the United States. Many of these children are forced into the workforce to become beggars, farm hands, and factory workers. They are exposed to conditions extremely harmful to their physical and mental well-being. ILRF has helped develop programs to fight child labor and is involved in monitoring conditions in various regions of the world.

[edit] Rights For Working Women Campaign

ILRF has recently developed a Rights For Working Women Campaign which seeks to alleviate labor conditions that disproportionately affect working women in developing countries through research, public education, litigation, legislative action, and grassroots mobilization.To begin the campaign, ILRF has undertaken a global initiative to promote increased awareness of and viable remedies for the problem of workplace sexual harassment. As of 1997, there were only thirty-six countries with legislation specifically targeting sexual harassment. Of those countries, only 12 were from Latin America, the Caribbean or Africa. It is not uncommon for women to be subjected to bodily searches or fired for refusing sexual advances. The prevalence of subcontracting and other forms of "flexible" work arrangements in the global economy make it very difficult for women to organize against such abuse.