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Labor Alerts
Table of Contents:RAPID ACTION NETWORK MOBILIZED CAMPAIGNS- Noboa (Bonita Brand) Bananas in Ecuador - Boycott Taco Bell - Farmworker struggle in Florida U.S. DOMESTIC - L.A. Sweatshop Workers Kick Off National Tour - Boston Janitors Fight for a Contract - Washington State Labor Council Adopts Resolution Against the War INTERNATIONAL - U.S. Clothing Retailers on Saipan Settle Landmark Workers' Rights Lawsuit - Striking Salvadoran Health Care Workers Attacked, Win Victory - STECSA Workers Defend Their Rights at Coca Cola - Planned Changes in Indonesian Labor Law Violate Workers' Rights - Mexican Labor Law Proposals Threaten Workers - Malaysian Labor Rights Activists Fight Imprisonment - Campaign to Support the Free Trade Zone Workers of Sri Lanka OTHER IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS - FTAA Public Hearings in California - Oct. 5th Minnesota Action and Rally "Fair Trade - Not Free Trade" - Nationwide Speaking Tour: Resisting the FTAA and Corporate Globalization - Call for October 12th Mobilization Against the PPP - 7th Annual Sowing Seeds for Change Symposium - Report on Legislation and Litigation for the Enforcement of Labor Rights - Witness for Peace, New England Delegation to Mexico - Families of Haitian Workers Plan Memorial LINKS TO ARTICLES/REPORTS/AND WEBSITES - "Living in Hope: People Challenging Globalization" -"Footwear Is Fleeing Indonesia, Raising Competition Questions: Nation's Economic Development May Not Be a One-Way Street" - "Colombia's War on Unions: The Coca-Cola Killings" <><><><><> MOBILIZED CAMPAIGNS (2 entries)** Noboa (Bonita Brand) Bananas in EcuadorMore than 1400 workers on seven plantations producing forthe Noboa Company in Ecuador went on strike on February 25th to call for their basic labor rights and the right to a union. Despite a powerful and growing international campaign against the Noboa Corporation (owner of Bonita bananas) its chief owner, Alvaro Noboa (who is the leading candidate for President of Ecuador), has still not agreed to negotiate with workers on his plantations. Nearly two months after admitting to hiring hundreds of armed thugs that violently attacked striking workers on the Los Alamos plantations in Ecuador, workers report that the Noboa Corporation has not only refused to reach any settlement with their unions, but has also begun to form a company-biased negotiating committee, in an effort to block meaningful negotiations. The fight of the Ecuadorian banana workers is being watched carefully by banana unions throughout Latin America, whose wages and benefits are threatened by the dominance of non-union, low-wage Ecuadorian banana exports. After a U.S. national letter-writing campaign, Costco, one of the largest U.S. purchasers of Noboa's Bonita bananas, contacted the Noboa Corporation and expressed their concern about the situation in Ecuador. And on August 15, Univision's news magazine, Aqui y Ahora, aired a television report on the violent attack of the workers. The internationally shown footage included shots of the second attack that forced the remaining banana workers off the plantations on the evening of May 16th and the bloody aftermath of the attacks. After watching the program, or organizing screenings of the footage in their communities, activists throughout the hemisphere contacted Noboa to demand that he negotiate with the unions on his plantations. ~ TAKE ACTION NOW! Demand that Alvaro Noboa stop his effort to deny workers their basic rights, to fire those responsible for the attacks, and to negotiate with the unions in good faith, as required by law. Mr. Alvaro Noboa Ponton, Noboa Corporation. Fax: 011-593-42-444-093, email: banoboa@bonita.com, or mail: Grupo Noboa Inc. 555 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. ~ For more information, clr@clrlabor.org, 202-232-5002, or visit US/LEAP in the web at: www.usleap.org ** Boycott Taco Bell - Farmworker Struggle in FloridaCampaign for Labor Rights is working with the Coalition ofImmokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworker organization based in Immokalee, Florida, on their national boycott of Taco Bell. The members of CIW, who pick tomatoes for Six-L's Packing Co. -- one of Taco Bell's principle partners for the year-round supply of tomatoes -- receive sub-poverty wages, stagnant piece rates, no right to overtime pay, no health insurance, no sick leave, no holiday leave, and no pension. Six-L's pays today what the industry paid as a standard piece rate over 20 years ago-40 cents per 32-pounds of tomatoes. And Taco Bell has the power and responsibility to change this situation for the workers who plant, cultivate, and harvest the tomatoes from which they profit. If Taco Bell were to pay JUST ONE PENNY MORE per pound for the tomatoes it buys from Florida growers, and the growers were to pass that extra penny on to the workers, the rate paid to workers could nearly double! CLR is working closely with the Student Farmworker Alliance on the student arm of the boycott, affectionately called "Boot the Bell." Students across the country whose dining halls are run by the food-service provider, ARAMARK, are mobilizing to get ARAMARK to end its agreement with Taco Bell which allows for Taco Bells to exist on their campuses. Students from across the country have signed a letter to ARAMARK stating that they will continue to campaign against the company until it ends its contract with Taco Bell. The Immokalee workers are currently on a speaking tour of the Northeast US, visiting students on many key ARAMARK campuses. During Halloween, students will engage in 4 days of "spooky" action on Taco Bell with plans for Taco Bell Horror Houses and vampire tomato costumes! Boot the Bell activists will then convene in Immokalee, Florida during Thanksgiving to strategize the next steps of this crucial campaign. ~ For more information, contact Campaign for Labor Rights, clr@clrlabor.org, 202-232-5002, or visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at, www.ciw-online.org <><><><><> U.S. DOMESTIC (3 entries) ** L.A. Sweatshop Workers Kick Off National Boycott Forever 21 TourLos Angeles garment workers who sewed the Forever 21 labelunder sweatshop conditions are leading a boycott against the popular retailer of young women¹s clothing. With the Garment Worker Center, the workers will be on a National Tour to promote the boycott. October dates include: 4-6th, San Francisco CA; 9th, Amherst MA; 10-12th, New York NY; 27-29th, San Antonio and Austin TX; 31st November 1, Miami FL. November dates to be announced in Washington DC. ~ For more information, or to help organize an action or event in your town, contact the Garment Worker Center at 213-748-5866, gwc@sweatshopwatch.org, or www.sweatshopwatch.org/gwc. ** Boston Janitors Fight for a ContractThe more than 10,000 janitors who clean Boston-area officebuildings and are members of SEIU Local 615 are in a fight for their lives. The master contract with Boston cleaning contractors has expired, negotiations have broken off, and a strike date is set for September 30. Broad community support has been building over the last several weeks, and is proving critical in this fight. UNICCO is the largest cleaning contractor in the Boston area, and employs janitors in several other cities where janitors' contracts will be expiring in the coming months. UNICCO has been the main obstacle in contract negotiations in Boston. Send a letter to UNICCO by visiting http://www.jwj.org/workplace/recent/BostonJanitors/studentletter.htm, or call UNICCO at 1-800-283-9222 and ask to speak to the CEO. ~ For more information, visit www.jwj.org. ** Washington State Labor Council Adopts Resolution Against the WarDuring its August 2002 Convention, Washington became thefirst State Labor Council to call for the repeal of the USA Patriot Act, to urge the AFL-CIO to do the same and to oppose the government's open-ended "war on terrorism." The resolution encourages workers to pressure President Bush and Congress to "redirect money from corporate handouts and the military budget to assist laid-off workers, restore and expand public services, and promote global justice by providing humanitarian and economic aid, administered by unions, to our brothers and sisters in other countries." The resolution also addresses the imprisonment and firings of immigrant workers, and outlines its case that the Patriot Act "undermine[s] labor's right to organize and fight anti-immigrant attacks and other union-busting tactics." ~ For more information and to see the resolution, look in the "What's New" section at www.wslc.org. <><><><><> INTERNATIONAL (7 entries)** U.S. Clothing Retailers on Saipan Settle Landmark Workers' Rights LawsuitAll U.S. clothing retailers except one (Levi) that buygarments manufactured on Saipan in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and twenty-three Saipan manufacturers have settled claims against them in a federal class-action lawsuit alleging violations of wage and hour laws and other workers' rights. The seven U.S. retailers -- Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, Gap, Inc., J.C. Penney Company, Inc., Lane Bryant, Inc., The Limited, Inc., and Talbots, Inc. -- join 19 other retailers that had previously settled. The agreement adopts a code of conduct and funds independent monitoring of factories on Saipan. The settlement will bring to a close more than three years of hard-fought litigation. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of immigrant workers from nearby Asian countries who, the plaintiffs alleged, were drawn to Saipan with promises of high pay but then allegedly encountered a pattern of long hours, low pay and other objectionable working conditions. The Saipan garment factories produce more than one billion dollars worth of clothing sold annually in U.S. stores. ~ Call Levi's, the only remaining defendant, and urge Robert Haas, Chairman of the Board, to settle: 425-501-6000. For more information, visit www.sweatshopwatch.org. ** Striking Salvadoran Health Care Workers Attacked, Win VictoryOn September 5, the STISSS health care workers' uniondeclared a national strike calling for an end to privatization, union busting and the CAFTA free trade agreement between Central America and the US. Together with the SIMETRISSS doctors' union, they paralyzed the ISSS social security health care system nationwide. The workers won a major victory on September 19th when the Legislative Assembly approved for the first time ever a decree that prohibits the concession (contracting out) of public services. Salvadoran President Francisco Flores is expected to veto the decree, and the FMLN and the STISSS are calling for a mass pressure campaign to demand that Flores sign the decree into law. Despite the major legislative victory, government repression against STISSS workers continues unabated. At 1:00am on September 19, riot police invaded the occupied Oncology hospital and violently dragged workers out; Monge and three other members of the union's board of directors were held captive at gunpoint for over half an hour by masked agents. ~ For more information and ways to take action, visit Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador at www.cispes.org. ** STECSA Workers Defend Their Rights at Coca ColaThe Coca Cola Workers' Union in Guatemala (STECSA) has inthe past 27 years and through the negotiations of several Collective Agreements, obtained benefits that Coca Cola Corporation and EMBOCEN, the Bottling company in Guatemala, must respect according to domestic and international law. These benefits have been obtained at great cost to the workers. Between 1978 and 1980, a number of trade unionists from STECSA were either brutally killed or disappeared simply because they belonged to the union and defended workers' rights. In 1998 when PANAMCO (Anchor bottler for Venezuela, Mexico and Central America of the soft drink products of Coca Cola Company) took control of the company in Guatemala City, the union started to have problems. Violations to the Collective Agreement have increased. Now it has escalated to an unnecessary labor conflict. ~ For more information, visit www.usleap.org. ** Planned Changes in Indonesian Labor Law Violate Workers' RightsThe following statement was issued by the IndonesianNational Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI) on Sept. 9, 2002: "At the end of this month the government of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice-President Hamzah Haz together with the People Representative Assembly plan to ratify two draft laws on labour called the Industrial Dispute Settlement Act (PPHI) and the Labour Protection and Development Act (PPK). Rather than improving conditions for Indonesian workers this legislation will legalize repression and violations of workers' rights. ." ~ For more information including the complete statement, visit http://www.infid.be/fnpbistatement.html. ** Mexican Labor Law Proposals Threaten WorkersA proposal to reform the Mexican federal labor lawprepared by business owners and a business-oriented "charro" union would threaten the eight-hour day, the right to strike and the ability to organize independent democratic unions, according to Arturo Alcalde, a leading progressive labor lawyer. The proposal calls for changes to 400 of the 1,000 articles that make up the federal labor law. ~ For more information, visit www.mexicosolidarity.org. ** Malaysian Labor Rights Activists Fight ImprisonmentSeveral Malaysian activists, including Tian Chua, directorof the Labour Resource Centre, have been fighting against their unfair imprisonment since April 2001. They are being held without trial, under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which is used to detain prisoners of conscience. The Malaysian Federal Court ruled in September 2002 that under the ISA, the first 60 days of police enforced detention of the five reformasi leaders was unlawful. However, the political prisoners were still not released. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), the Malaysian human rights NGO that has been campaigning to abolish the ISA, continues to fight for their release, and Amnesty International has declared the detainees as prisoners of conscience. ~ For more information on the ISA, visit http://www.suaram.org. ** Campaign to Support the Free Trade Zone Workers of Sri LankaFreedom of association and the right of workers toorganize in the Free Trade Zones of Sri Lanka is at a critical juncture. While freedom of association and the right to organize and collectively bargain legally exist, employers simply refuse to recognize unions once they are formed. The Free Trade Zones Workers Union (FTZWU) has struggled for years against violence toward workers who organize and emergency regulations that repress workers. This repression coupled with the virtual break down of the judiciary, due to the prolonged war, means that there is virtually no redress for workers against these injustices. ~ For more information and ways to take action, visit www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/01-09-23.htm or contact FTZWU <ftzunion@diamond.lanka.net> or TIE-Asia <tieasia@sri.lanka.net> <><><><><> OTHER IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENTS** FTAA Public Hearings in CaliforniaThe Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a proposedtrade agreement that would link the entire western hemisphere in a huge trading block, with serious implications for generations to come. Still, the US Trade Representative conducts secret negotiating sessions and refuses to open a public debate on this decisive issue. Public hearings in 8 California cities will address; how free trade affects your community; how free trade affects developing countries; how free trade affects women; and how we can create a better world. Hearings will be held between September 30th and October 8th in San Diego, Los Ageles, Palo Alto/San Jose, Marin, Stockton, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, and Oakland/Berkeley/San Francisco. ~ For More Information on any of these hearings, contact: Mexico Solidarity Network (a member of Alliance for Responsible Trade) at 415-621-8100 or msn@mexicosolidarity.org ** Oct. 5th Minnesota Action and Rally "Fair Trade - Not Free Trade"Regional action and rally October 5th in Cloquet/DuluthMN. Rally at Wal-Mart; music, food and speakers at Duluth's Bayfront Park; march and banner action. Caravans will be travelling to Cloquet from the Twin Cities, Western MN, Central MN, Iron Range, Thunder Bay and Duluth. ~ For more information, contact Larry Weiss at lweiss@americas.org or 612-276-0788 ext. 9. ** Nationwide Speaking Tour: Resisting the FTAA and Corporate GlobalizationThis speaking tour, sponsored byGlobal Exchange, will feature William Trujillo, of the Ecuadorian farmers' federation CONFEUNASSC-CNC (the National Confederation of Affiliates for Farmer Security. Topics include indigenous rights, campesino/farmer Rights, Ecuador's failed economy under IMF/World Bank plans, resistance efforts in Latin America against corporate globalization, and Ecuador's National Campaign Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). October 5 - October 14th, 2002. ~ For more information, visit www.globalexchange.org, or contact Kien Chou at 415-575-5545, kien@globalexchange.org. ** Call for October 12th Mobilization Against the PPPThe Mesoamerican Movement for Popular Integration Againstthe Puebla-Panama Plan calls for mobilizations and struggle the 12th of October to demonstrate the rejection of the PPP (Puebla-Panama Plan), which will carve a major transportation and industrial corridor from Puebla, Mexico to Panama. The mobilization will coincide with different expressions of struggle on the day of Mesoamerican resistance. ~ For more information on the PPP, visit www.acerca.org. ** 7th Annual Sowing Seeds for Change SymposiumJoin students, farmworkers, faculty and advocatesNovember 8-10th at California State University, in building a national coalition for change in the agricultural industry. Workshops on Labor issues, environmental issues, health issues, legal issues, student organizing and more. ~ For details and registration, visit www.saf-unite.org or contact Laxmi at Student Action with Farmworkers, 919-660-3660. ** Report on Legislation and Litigation for the Enforcement of Labor RightsOn June 26-28, 2002 the Clean Clothes Campaign and theInternational Restructuring Education Network Europe (IRENE) held a seminar on "Internationally binding legislation and litigation for the enforcement of labor rights." The final report on the SOMO/IRENE research on lawsuits against Multi-National Corporations for labor rights violations, which was presented at the seminar, will be distributed in October. A report on this conference is now available. ~ To view the report, visit http://www.cleanclothes.org/legal/02-06-irene.htm. ** Witness for Peace, New England Delegation to MexicoWitness for Peace (WFP) is a politically independent,grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Its mission is to support peace, justice, and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and corporate practices that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Mexico delegation will take place from January 18 - 30th, with the theme, "Globalization: At What Human Cost? The effects of free trade on workers, the environment and indigenous peoples in Mexico." This delegation to various parts of Mexico (including Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla and Mexico City) is an opportunity to learn first hand what is happening to Mexican farming communities and labor unions against the dynamic background of US-Mexico relations. ~ For more information, contact Joanne Ranney at 802-434-3233 or wfpne@witnessforpeace.org. Details and online application at www.witnessforpeace.org/newengland. ** Families of Haitian Workers Plan MemorialLabor Alert subscribers will remember that on May 27th,Haitian workers on the Guacimal orange plantation were attacked by a group of thugs led by local authorities. Eleven people were arrested and two union organizers were murdered and buried on the plantation. The parents of the deceased have finally been allowed to visit the burial site and to organize a religious service. The campaign to free the remaining jailed unionists continues. ~ For information on how to donate needed money for the memorial service, email batayouvriye@hotmail.com <><><><><> LINKS TO ARTICLES/BOOKS/AND WEBSITES (3 entries)** "Living in Hope: People Challenging Globalization"Edited by John Feffer, published by AFSC and Zed BooksIt's the story of small farmers in Honduras, urban poor in Bosnia, Cambodian woodcutters, Mexican textile workers, fair trade advocates in Japan, the disenfranchised in Vietnam, anti-sweatshop activists in the United States and more. Each chapter is a separate story that tells about the impact of modernization on traditional cultures and the modest attempts to create alternatives by those who do not benefit from globalization. ~ For more information, visit http://www.afsc.org/livinginhope/default.htm ** "Footwear Is Fleeing Indonesia, Raising Competition Questions: Nation's Economic Development May Not Be a One-Way Street"September 9, 2002 by Sadanand Dhume and Maureen Tkacik,The Wall Street Journal "Since graduating from high school nine years ago, Sundari has spent her entire working life at PT Doson Indonesia, a Korean-Indonesian joint venture that makes shoes for footwear giant Nike Inc. As a supervisor, the slender 27-year-old makes 800,000 rupiah ($90) a month plus overtime, a respectable wage in a country where less than $2 a day is the norm" But that's about to end. This month, Sundari and her estimated 7,000 co-workers will be out of work as Nike scales back its presence in Indonesia. ~ For the full article, email Daisy Pitkin at clr@clrlabor.org. ** "Colombia's War on Unions: The Coca-Cola Killings"September 6, 2002 by Maria Engqvist, Counter Punch"The Coca-Cola killings in Colombia continue. Last week union activist Adolfo de Jesus Munera was murdered shortly after he received notice that a law suit filed by him against Coca-Cola was accepted by Colombia's Constitutional Court. Munera was a regional leader of the Sinaltrainal food industry workers' union and a former employee of the Coca-Cola plant Embotelladora Roman in the town of Barranquilla. Before Munera, seven other union leaders from Coca-Cola plants in Colombia have been murdered and others have been abducted and tortured. The attacks against the union activists are usually accompanied by threats to all Coca-Cola employees to quit their union" For the complete article, visit http://www.counterpunch.org/coke0906.html
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