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Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor RightsCampaign for Labor Rights' Monthly Index. 11,500 subscribers.Posted November 2, 2001
Table of Contents:
MOBILIZED CAMPAIGNS (4 entries)PCUN is Oregon's union of farmworkers, nursery and reforestation workers, Oregon's largest Latino organization. NORPAC Foods, is a grower-owned food processor. Some 250 growers in western Oregon 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 union of the farmworkers' choosing. PCUN called for an international boycott of all NORPAC products in 1992. 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 two largest college and university food-service providers in the country: Sodexho and ARAMARK. Through speaking tours and UPCOMING "DAYS OF ACTION," students are putting the pressure on the companies that run their dining halls in support of the workers who harvest the food they eat. If you are a student on a Sodexho or ARAMARK campus, contact CLR today! ~for more information, check www.pcun.org, or contact Campaign for Labor Rights, clr@clrlabor.org. Until recently HLL ran a mercury thermometer factory in the hill town of Kodaikanal in southern India. The factory was the largest mercury thermometer factory in the world. In March of this year, several local organizations discovered evidence of massive abuse of the environment and flagrantly illegal dumping practices inside the HLL factory. This included the dropping of mercury-contaminated wastes on the slope outside the factory, burying waste mercury within factory grounds without any protection, and often supplying workers with inadequate or faulty protection equipment (when supplied at all). Massive demonstrations and government pressure followed, and later that month the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board ordered the suspension of production at the factory. In order to avoid paying compensation, the company has ordered the plant's 130 workers to relocate to another state in India, about 1,000 miles north of where they now live. The workers have refused to relocate, and earlier this month, CLR asked Rapid Action Network members to write letters to HLL and it's parent company, Unilever. To date, nearly 2000 such letters have been written! CLR will keep you posted on the next steps of this campaign. ~for more information, contact CLR, 202-232-5002, clr@clrlabor.org. 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 J.C. Penney and the Home Shopping Network. On August 14, Almond filed a lawsuit against the workers' union for contacting the company's customers and 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 Co. is suing 20 union members for 46,316,215 Baht-or about one million US dollars! The company claims that financial damages due to bad international publicity will require them to lay off 250 workers without compensation. The workers see this as an excuse for the company to fire 250 union supporters. Two weeks ago, CLR asked Rapid Action Network members to write letters to the Home Shopping Network (which sells Almond jewelry) about the situation at Almond. In the first hour after the Labor Alert went out, over 200 letters were sent, and to date, nearly 1,800 letters have been emailed to HSN. ~for more information, contact CLR, 202-232-5002, clr@clrlabor.org, or check the Thai Labour Campaign website, www.thailabour.org Workers at the Kuk Dong factory in Atlixco, Puebla, Mexico have finally won their independent union and a signed collective agreement. This is a precedent-setting victory that could open the door to worker organizing in Mexico's maquiladora sector where, to date, independent unions have not been tolerated. On September 21, a new collective agreement was signed by the company, which has changed its name to Mex Mode, and the independent union, now known as SITEMEX. That same day the contract was filed with the Puebla Conciliation and Arbitration Board, and the union was granted its legal registration. Of the 450 workers currently employed at the factory, 399 signed the application for the independent union. The victory is the product of a difficult nine-month struggle by the workers for their right to be represented by the union of their choice. It could not have been possible without the coordinated support provided by a number of organizations in Mexico, the US, Canada, and Korea. You may remember CLR's July efforts to organize delegations to 40 of the 45 Mexican Consulate offices in the US. Many thanks to those of you who organized or participated in those delegations in your communities! The letters you delivered to Consuls about the situation at Kukdong (now Mex Mode) were delivered to President Fox in diplomatic pouches from the US. The delegations are recognized as an important piece of the international pressure campaign in support of the workers' union. In late September, we emailed a Labor Alert asking you to write letters to Nike and Reebok letting them know that the union victory at Mex Mode would be a hollow one unless the companies continued to place orders in the factory. That Labor Alert was forwarded on listserves around the world, and over 7,000 letters (that we know of) have been sent to Nike and Reebok from 17 different countries in six languages. ~for more information contact CLR, 202-232-5002, clr@clrlabor.org, or US/LEAP: www.usleap.org
DOMESTIC LABOR STRUGGLES (5 entries)The Charleston 5 are union dockworkers who were attacked by police during a protest to protect their jobs. They were subsequently charged with inciting a riot and placed under house arrest. Their trial is to begin on November 12, and if convicted, they could be sent to prison. Check out the Charleston 5 website for breaking news on this important struggle. Organize the South! ~www.charleston5.org. South Carolina Miners Struggle For twenty months, workers at the Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Company have been waging a bitter fight to unionize the company's mining and processing operations in Langley, South Carolina. The K-T Clay workers' struggle shows the need for an all-out labor offensive to organize the South, where bosses wield a virtual anti-union dictatorship under the banner of the "right to work" and the "open shop." Ever since the K-T workers' union won a representation vote over bitter opposition from the company, management has flatly refused to negotiate or even discuss a union contract. ~For more information, write to Local D-598 President Myron K. Renew 258 Sand Rockway Trenton, SC 29847 USA or call brother Renew at (803) 641-1479. Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Boycott Taco Bell The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworker organization based in Immokalee, Florida, has asked to meet with Taco Bell representatives to discuss the working and living conditions of the farmworkers who pick Taco Bell's tomatoes. Farmworkers who pick tomatoes for the Immokalee-based "Six L's, Packing, Co., Inc.", one of the nation's largest tomato producers and a contractor for Taco Bell, are paid 40 cents for every 32-pound bucket they pick. That is the same per bucket rate, or "piece rate", paid in 1978! ~for more information and to write a letter to Taco Bell, go to www.ciw-online.org National All-Call Days Against Fast Track November 5-7 are National All-Call Days Against Fast Track. Call 1-800-393-1082 (this toll free number is provided by the AFL-CIO). Let your Representative hear you loud & clear: NO FAST TRACK/NO H.R. 3005! Republicans are expected to introduce fast track legislation around November 7 that would authorize the President to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas. We have a very good chance to defeat this legislation, but it will take the efforts of civil society across the nation. ~for more information, contact CLR, clr@clrlabor.org, 202-232-5002 Asociacion Tepeyac takes donations for families of undocumented
victims of WTC ~for more information, www.tepeyac.org
INTERNATIONAL LABOR ISSUES (2 entries):Digna Ochoa, a human rights lawyer in Mexico, was asassinated and a note left behind warning that other human right lawyers would be next. For more information please see www.iht.com/articles/37393.html Fair Trade Coffee Day of action, Saturday,December 8 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. ~for more information, contact the Mexico Solidarity Network or the Nicaragua Network, 202-232-5002.
JOB POSTINGS (2 entries):Quest for Peace has two job openings. They seek a full time Political Coordinator and Development Coordinator. ~Please see www.quixote.org/quest for more information. STITCH is looking to hire a Program Coordinator. ~For more information please contact Shelley Wascom, Organizational Development committee: work4stitch@yahoo.com.
OTHER IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS (5 entries):Witness video on garment worker on U.S. Saipan: A full-length documentary 'Behind the Labels: Garment Workers on U.S. Saipan' will shortly be available, with supporting materials, for use in screenings, and organizing around anti-sweatshop issues. The Film will be screened at Visions Bistro, 1927 Florida Ave., Washington, DC, NW on November 15, 7:00pm. You can also see a short version online at the Witness website. ~for more information, www.witness.org Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) and Indigenous Autonomy: PPP envisions a series of transportation and production-for-export corridors from southern Mexico through Central America to Panama. This corridor would include high-speed rail and a four-lane toll highway for the transport of international commerce, but not for local needs. Join the Mexico Solidarity Network, CISPES, Campaign for Labor Rights, Nicaragua Network, ACERCA, EPICA, and Rights Action on a delegation (Nov. 22-Dec. 2) to visit communities and organizations that envision a different form of development ~For more information please contact Mexico Solidarity network at 773-583-7728 or email msn@mexicosolidarity.org. South West Road show on immigrant rights, prisons, and Environmental Justice: This Fall, nine prominent youth artists and activists will conduct a three-week tour of the Southwest to highlight immigrants' rights, environmental justice and prison industrial complex issues in the region. The Democracy Not Hypocrisy/Art in Action Road Show will travel to border towns and other impacted communities to offer theatrical presentations that incorporate art and politics to link these issues together. The Road Show will also provide workshops and capacity building after the performance. ~for more information, contact Xiomara Castro at seeya2mara@yahoo.com, 510-551-9685 or Juliette Beck at Juliette@globalexchange.org, 800.497.1994. Victory in Fresno for GAP protestors: On October 9th, all charges were dismissed against the anti-sweatshop protestors arrested May 6, 2000 at the Fashion Fair mall in Fresno, CA. This is a major victory for free speech rights and will have statewide implications for activists engaged in expressive activities at shopping malls. ~For more information and photos see, www.fresnoalliance.com/home/gaphotos.htm Witness for Peace trip to Columbia: In Colombia, US taxpayer money is being used to escalate a civil war, massively displace civilians, strengthen a military with a horrible human rights record (and clear ties to vicious right- wing paramilitaries), destroy critical bio-diversity in the Amazon basin, and more! Meet with a wide range of experts and activists to hear their analysis of U.S. policy in Colombia. ~For application and flyer, see www.witnessforpeace.org
LINKS TO ARTICLES, PAPERS, AND WEBSITES (4 entries):National "Campus Living Wage Campaign" After some delay and great anticipation, the national Campus Living Wage Campaign web site is all the way LIVE! This is your new home for campus living wage information-- it looks amazing, it's easy to use, and it's bursting at the seams with information. ~ check it out at, www.campuslivingwage.org Local and Group Organizing after 911: ~Check, www.globalroots.org Border labor war defies Mexico's Fox administration: An articled byDavid Bacon. "A battle is brewing -- over which direction Mexico will take. Unlike its revolution at the turn of the century, it will not be fought mainly by farmers with guns. In large part, it will take place on the floors of the maquila plants. And since maquiladora production has spread far beyond the border, to encompass cities all over Mexico, it will be a national convulsion." ~For full article please email David Bacon at this address dbacon@igc.apc.org NYC Labor Against War Statement on 911: "No one should suffer what we experienced on September 11. Yet war will inevitably harm countless innocent civilians, strengthen American alliances with brutal dictatorships and deepen global poverty-just as the United States and its allies have already inflicted widespread suffering on innocent people in such places as Iraq, Sudan, Israel and the Occupied Territories, the former Yugoslavia and Latin America." ~To see the complete statement and sign on please see, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/files/
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 information and contact information) to Daisy Pitkin: clr@clrlabor.org.In Solidarity, Daisy Pitkin National Co-Coordinator Campaign for Labor Rights 202-232-5002 clr@clrlabor.org |
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