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CLR November Index
Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights
Posted November 28, 2001
Table of Contents:
Almond (Thailand)
The 600 workers at the Almond (Thailand) Ltd. gold jewelry factory in
Bangkok, Thailand face hazardous conditions from molten metal and fumes
while earning as little as $4/day - far below a living wage. Last December,
when workers organized a union, Almond responded by firing over 40 union
leaders and other employees. Almond produces religious and other jewelry
that is marketed and distributed in the U. S. by Michael Anthony Jewelers,
Inc., a Mt. Vernon, NY-based firm whose major customers include Sterling
Inc., the owner of Kay Jewelers and other jewelry chains, and the Home
Shopping Network. On August 14, Almond filed a lawsuit against the workers'
union for speaking out to international labor rights supporters about
the abuses they have suffered. The lawsuit is clearly a tactic being
used by the company to intimidate union leaders and supporters. Almond
is suing 20 union members for 46,316,215 Baht-or about one million US
dollars! Last month, CLR asked Rapid Action Network members to write
letters to the Home Shopping Network (HSN) about the situation at Almond.
Responding to your pressure, HSN has been in contact with Michael Anthony
Jewelers requesting that they resolve the situation in the factory in
Thailand. The next step in this campaign is a series of leafleting actions
going on this week at Kay Jewelers outlets across the country. APOLOGIES
TO THOSE OF YOU WHO EMAILED US REQUESTING ORGANIZING PACKETS LAST WEEK-our
Internet server was down, so we were not able to receive your emails.
If you would like to organize a leafleting action in your community,
send us an email, and we'll send you an organizing packet. Also, watch
for an announcement for another round of actions in December.
~for more information, contact CLR, 202-232-5002, clr@clrlabor.org,
or check the Thai Labour Campaign website, www.thailabour.org
PCUN
PCUN is Oregon's union of farmworkers, nursery and reforestation workers;
Oregon's largest Latino organization. NORPAC Foods, is a grower-owned
food processor. NORPAC is comprised of 250 growers in western Oregon
who own and control the $260 million a year company. The NORPAC member
growers have steadfastly refused to negotiate with farmworkers employed
on their farms, much less recognize the farmworkers' union. To get NORPAC
to come to the table, PCUN called for an international boycott of all
NORPAC products in 1992-over nine years ago! CLR joined forces with
PCUN on this boycott in 1998-targeting NORPAC's corporate customers.
Thanks to student and community pressure, several companies have already
agreed to stop using NORPAC products. Currently, PCUN and CLR are focusing
the campaign on the largest college and university food-service providers
in the country. Through speaking tours and on-campus actions, students
are putting the pressure on the companies that run their dining halls
in support of the workers who harvest the food they eat. CLR is planning
a speaking tour to colleges and universities in the Northeast for this
February. Contact us today if you want to book a tour stop on your campus!
~for more information, check www.pcun.org,
or contact Campaign for Labor Rights, clr@clrlabor.org.
Choishin and Cimatextiles (Guatemala)
The workers at the Cimatextiles and Choishin factories, both owned by
a Korean-based company call Choi & Shin's, went public with their effort
to form a union at each plant at the beginning of July, 2001. Shortly
afterwards, harassment and intimidation of the union supporters escalated
into mob attacks reportedly orchestrated by company supervisors on July
18th and 19th. The Guatemalan Labor Minister facilitated negotiations
between the union and the company, which resulted in a rapid agreement
signed by the two unions, the factory management, MINUGUA (the United
Nations body in Guatemala that oversees the peace process), and the
Guatemalan Labor Minister on July 25th. Despite the July 25th agreement
(and a renewed agreement on August 9th), those who participated in the
mob attacks against union supporters have enjoyed impunity and have
not faced appropriate disciplinary action agreed to by the company and
the Guatemalan government. The two factories produce for Liz Claiborne
among other retailers. In August and again in October, CLR asked you
to write letters to Liz Claiborne urging the company to pressure Choi
and Shin's to respect workers' right to freedom of association. Over
2,300 letters have been sent in all (thanks for sending us copies)!
Liz Claiborne initially dismissed the reports of violence in the factory,
but then moved to intervene with its contractor. After the mob violence,
Liz Claiborne took the unusual step of sending a letter directly to
the workers that effectively disputed threats by local management to
close. The letter stated that Liz Claiborne supports the right of workers
to choose to join or to not join a union and, in an effort to counter
threats of the plant closing, that Liz Claiborne will continue business
at the Choishin and Cimatextiles factories as long as this right is
respected (and the quality of the production remains satisfactory!).
Liz Claiborne has also voiced its support for sanctions against those
who participated in the violent intimidation.
To date workers continue to report physical and sexual assault, being
pressured to resign from the factory, and threats of blacklisting and
factory closure. Participants of the violent mobs that attacked the
unionists on July 18th and 19th still enjoy impunity. Later this week,
CLR will send an update on this campaign that will including next steps
to support the union in Guatemala.
~for more information, check www.usleap.org,
or contact Campaign for Labor Rights, clr@clrlabor.org.
HERE for Justice Campaign action
Local 681 in Anaheim, California are saying to the city council and
hotel owners, no more corporate welfare to hotel owners who abuse their
workers and deny them the right to organize. There will be a series
of actions the week of December 2, the most important of which is on
Friday, Dec. 7 from 4-6pm. ~For more info see: www.local681.org
Fast Track Vote scheduled Decemer 6
The House GOP leadership has decided that it is "now or never" for a
vote on Fast Track. DeLay, Armey and company have announced that they
have set the date of a vote for Thursday the 6th of December. While
they still do not have the votes lined up yet to pass Fast Track, they
hope that by putting it on the calendar will force Members to take a
position with nasty GOP leadership coercion for those who refuse. Meanwhile,
having a set date will push the corporate lobby to intensify its efforts.
Call your Representative at 1-888-832-4246 (courtesy of the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce) and say NO to Fast Track! ~For more info see www.tradewatch.org.
Taco Bell Boycott Action
From Thursday, November 29, to Saturday, December 1, universities and
communities across the country will be participating in "Three Days
of Action" at Taco Bell restaurants. With protests already planned from
Gainesville, FL, to Irvine, CA, the national actions are the next step
in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' (CIW) campaign to convince the
Taco Bell Corporation to recognize the farmworkers who pick their tomatoes
and help improve the wages and working conditions in Florida's tomato
fields. ~For more information on the Taco Bell boycott, see the CIW
website at www.ciw-online.org
Victory for the Charleston 5:
"It's over," Ken Riley told Labor Notes at 9:15am on Thursday November
8th. An hour before, attorneys for the Charleston 5 had agreed that
the 5 would plead no contest to a magistrate-level offense, walking
away from their long ordeal with $100 fines. ~Get the whole story on
the Labor Notes website: www.labornotes.org.
DART Organizers Institute
In the summer of 2002, we will be launching the DART Organizers Institute
- a paid, four-month, field school for community organizers. We plan
to hire twenty Organizer Trainees, who will receive first-rate instruction
from seasoned organizers, and will be given the opportunity to work
directly on a multiple set of racial and economic justice issues like
police misconduct, education reform, environmental justice, affordable
housing, and others. ~ Contact Ben Macconnell Ben MacConnell Recruitment
Director Direct Action & Research Training Center ph: (816) 931-2520
fax: (816) 531-9692 email: dart@kc.rr.com
www.thedartcenter.org
Organizing Committee of Jobs Now seeks
organizers
The Organizing Committee for Jobs Now! a newly formed project of the
Working Families Party(affiliated with SEIU, HERE, UAW and 1199) and
the Fund for a Progressive America in New York City seeks 2 organizers
immediately for an exciting interfaith and inter-racial direct action
organizing project. ~For more info please contact Jonathan Rosen at
jdr241@nyu.edu.
Campaign for Labor Rights T-shirts
Brand new and hot-off-the-press! They are going fast, so order one today!
Just send us your name and address, a size (s, m, l, xl), and a check
for $16.44 ($15 plus postage), and we'll send you a shirt. ~to see pictures,
check out our website, www.clrlabor.org
National Labor Committee's Holiday Season
on Conscience
Candle Light March to End Child Labor and Sweatshop Abuses in New York
City in front of NIKE TOWN on 57th Street and 5th Avenue. Marching to
Rockefeller Center at 48th Street Gospel Chorus... Rap Artists, Interfaith
Convocation... Posters, Puppets, Banners, Costumes and more. ~For more
info contact nlc@nlcnet.org
USAS Southeast Regional Conference
The United Students Against Sweatshops Southeast Regional Conference
is coming up at Duke next weekend (Nov.30-Dec.2) and it'll be a great
opportunity to meet students who are organizing throughout the region!
Hear from workers and organizers from the Kukdong/Mex Mode factory in
Mexico who just won a union contract, from FLOC, the Coalition of Immokolee
Workers, SLAP (Student Labor Action Project) in DC, and more! ~To register,
write to Jonathan at Duke Students Against Sweatshops at dirtysouthconf@yahoo.com
Global Exchange's World Social Forum Reality
Tour
The delegates will travel to Porto Alegre to take part in the 2002 World
Social Forum from January 31 through February 5, 2002. In addition,
the delegates will meet with members of the Movimiento dos Trabalhadores
Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Brazilšs Landless Workers Movement, the largest
social movement in America and learn how they are organizing to struggle
for a just society based on the fair distribution of land. This trip
will help you learn about strategies to create and strengthen movements
that aim to propagate universal human rights, environmental protection,
and social justice. ~For more see global exchange's website at www.globalexchang.org.
The Economics of a Living Wage Workshop
This one-day workshop presents detailed economic analyses and participatory
exercises designed to enrich your groups' understanding of the economics
of a living wage and to strengthen group member's ability to articulately
advocate for a living wage. Your organization provides the logistics,
participants and location; CPE provides two of our staff economists,
well-versed in living wage issues, and prepared with curriculum materials,
activities, visual aids and handouts. The cost to your organization
for a full-day living wage workshop is $900 -- all groups are strongly
encouraged to apply for outside funding assistance and CPE scholarships.
~Contact Liz Stanton at (413) 545-0743 or programs@populareconomics.org
for more information on workshops and scholarships.
90 schools on the WRC!
We now have 90 schools on the WRC...let's push 10 more and get to 100
quick! The latest additions are Duke University and Hamilton College.
Congrats to their work! We just had a WRC board meeting on Monday--A
full update on that and board rep happenings will be coming out soon...stay
tuned... USAS webpage: www.usasnet.org
LASC: Free Trade Coffee Day
While the world confronts a terrorist crisis, Mexico and Central America
are facing a severe famine intensified by a crisis in the international
coffee market. Today's world market prices for coffee are at their lowest
point in history. While coffee companies reap huge profits, millions
of coffee farmers and workers face unemployment, land seizure, and starvation.
An alliance of concerned organizations (see below for sponsors and endorsers)
invite you to support the world's coffee farmers by taking part in a
Fair Trade Coffee Day of Action December 8 and promoting and/or purchasing
fair trade coffee in your local stores and cafes. Write immediately
to Morgan at nicanet@afgj.org
or call 202-544-9355 for organizing kits with background information,
all needed materials, and easy-to-follow instructions on how you can
participate in this day of action.
Take a look at the O.I.'s new website-sign
up for a three-day training!
Are you content just to read about campaigns for workers' rights on
the web? Don't be. You can do something about it! Apply to attend the
AFL-CIO's Organizing Institute and help workers form and join unions.
Visit the OI website online at: www.organize.aflcio.org/
China officially joins the WTO
~CNN article www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/11/10/china.WTO/index.html
Thouands of Worker's face Dismissal:
While most workers across Indonesia are looking forward to their annual
holiday bonus, the future is not so rosy in the East Java industrial
city of Sidoarjo, where nine major companies are planning to lay-off
7,500 staff as a result of the international economic downturn following
the September 11 attacks on the US. ~For more info see TAPOL, the Indonesia
Human Rights Campaign tel +44 020 8771 2904 fax +44 020 8653 0322 tapol@gn.apc.org
www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Rethinking the China Campaign
On May 24, 2000, the American labor movement suffered a significant
defeat in their attempt to block Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR)
status for China. The House of Representatives voted 237-197 to approve
PNTR for China. This was the labor movement's largest legislative campaign
in years, which mobilized resources of the American labor movement from
coast to coast. But was this the best step to take on the heels of the
powerful anti-WTO coalition that emerged in Seattle last November? ~To
see the entire article please see: www.qc.edu/newlaborforum/
Global Justice and the War
War allows governments to pursue the interests of capital with mass
killing and political repression-all under the banner of justice. It
is being used today to drive through major changes in the world economy
and politics-furthering the agenda that the global justice movement
was built to oppose. ~To see the entire article: http://socialistworker.org/384Pages/384_08_GlobJusticeAndWar.shtml
Still Stitching for Export, but Now it
Pays
Ms. Mena lives and works in a community known as Nueva Vida (New Life).
The name couldn't be more apt. She's still sewing, but she's making
more money than ever. Last month, Mena became part of a new all-female
worker-owned sewing cooperative - or maquila - that's emerging as a
model for US clothing companies looking for labor suppliers.It is the
first worker-owned sewing shop in Nicaragua that exports clothes, say
the founders of the new maquila. And it hopes to qualify for "free-trade"
tax breaks in two years, making it the first worker-owned maquila to
attain that status in Central America. ~To see the entire article: August
13, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor
If you have information you would like included in next month's edition
of Campaign for Labor Rights' Monthly Index, please send an email (including
all relevant contact information) to Daisy Pitkin: clr@clrlabor.org
Solidarity,
Daisy Pitkin
Campaign Coordinator
Campaign for Labor Rights
202-232-5002
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