Labor is Not a Commodity

Chinese Workers in Their Own Words

Manfred Elfstrom, ILRF

The movement of Chinese from the country’s rural interior to its hyper-industrial coast has been one of the biggest mass migrations in human history. The exact number of migrants is hard to determine, but it generally is thought to hover over 200 million people. There has been no shortage of reporting on the phenomenon, whether in the Mainland Chinese or foreign press.  But the migrants’ own voices can often be lost in the clamor. 

The magazine Rural Women (nong jia nü) (formerly Rural Women Knowing All), was established under the aegis of the All China Women’s Federation.  It is now really a multi-purpose organization, including the magazine, a Migrant Women’s Club, Cultural Development Center for Rural Women, and Practical Skills Training Center for Rural Women. 

Even with all these activities, the magazine itself appears to still be at the center of the organization’s mission.  Rural Women, as its name implies, carries the stories of the women—“working sisters” or dagong mei—from small villages who keep the economies of Guangdong, Fujian and other provinces humming.  The magazine’s Chinese- and English language websites can be found, respectively, here  and here.

Human Trafficking: the reality of the ubiquitous phenomenon

Jessie Lin, ILRF intern

Child labor, forced labor, and trafficking exist in almost every country in the world.  Men, women, and children are often exploited in areas of domestic servitude, commercial sex, and in factories and sweatshops.  What many ordinary consumers don’t realize is that the very products that we consume are oftentimes the result of forced child labor. This type of labor take place in multiple sectors, for example, many reports show that shrimp processing plants in Thailand uses a high amount of forced labor.  And they take place in countries that we typically don’t associate child labor with, such as Fiji, Moldova, Papua New Guinea, the Bahamas, etc.

The US Department of State released their Eighth Annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report on June 4th, 2008.  Mark Lagon, the director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons described human trafficking at the annual briefing as a form of modern-day slavery.  According to estimates, there are approximately 800,000 people trafficked across international borders every year.  Up to half of them are children.  These numbers do not include the millions that are trafficked within national borders. 

My first Wal-Mart Shareholder Meeting Experience in Fayetteville, AR

Trina Tocco, ILRF

I presented in front of 20,000 people earlier today at the Wal-Mart Annual Shareholder Meeting in Fayetteville, AR.  I spoke for 3 minutes in reference to a resolution submitted by Harrington Investments which called for the Establishment of a Human Rights Committee within Wal-Mart's Board of Directors.  You can view my speech here.

People told me it was going to be insane but that still didn't prepare me for what I witnessed today.  I arrived at 6:30am.  YES THAT'S RIGHT AM!  On the radio as I drove in, DJs were complaining about the traffic that was caused by the shareholder meeting.  So many people!!!  It seemed like everyone was wearing a Wal-Mart shirt.  I saw people representing ASDA in the UK and Trust Mart in China.  I followed the crowds for a while and found the north entrance which is where I was directed to sign on as a proponent of Resolution #7 which calls for the establishment of a Human Rights Committee as part of the Wal-Mart Board of Director.  This resolution was proposed by Harrington Investments.  I was given a proxy by Harrington Investments so that I could defend the resolution.

Transform the Big Box Industry - Issues United!

By Martha Guarnieri, ILRF Corporate Greed intern

On June 5, 2008, 35 prominent international, national, and local organizations have endorsed a broad agenda for transforming the big box retail industry. The “Consensus Standards for Big Box Industry” lays out twenty specific standards covering worker rights; the environment; purchasing practices; community and cultural rights; and corporate citizenship, governance, and political activity. The consensus has been released in time for the Wal-Mart shareholder annual meeting on Friday, June 6 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The document was drafted by the Big Box Collective, which brings together labor rights, environmental, public health, and consumer advocates to challenge the current big box retail model of business. The prominence of labor rights in the Consensus Standards is an important step for labor activists internationally. Three labor standards that the document lays out include respect of basic labor rights, adherence to the highest internationally recognized labor and human rights standards, and the payment of livable wages and reasonable benefits. The placement of these alongside other standards emphasizes the importance of labor in the broad agenda of improving ethics and practices of big box retail industries.

Bridgestone Workers on Strike in Turkey

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

I write a lot on this blog about Bridgestone/Firestone's abuses in Liberia, but the world's largest tire company has labor problems all over the world.  I was just reading an article from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) about how 4,000 Turkish rubber workers, some of whom work for Bridgestone, are currently on strike.  Keep reading to find out more about the fight these workers are waging. 

New Firestone Campaign Video!

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

Check out the new Stop Firestone campaign video below!  It is focused on child labor on the Firestone plantation.  Keep reading to find out more.

Tiger Woods and Corporate Abuse

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

I have written before on this blog about Tiger Woods and his role in the Bridgestone Invitational PGA Tour sponsored by labor-rights abuser Bridgestone/Firestone, so I was very interested to read sports journalist Dave Zirin's recent article about Tiger's relationship with another human rights abuser, Chevron.

According to Zirin, Tiger's charitable foundation is meant to support children's development in the U.S. and globally, but Chevron is a major sponsor of the foundation, including being the title sponsor of the Tiger Woods Foundation World Challenge Golf Tournament. 

Sweatshop and the City

By Beth Myers, Executive Director, STITCH

If you are a reader of any pop culture websites, you know that May 30 marks the second coming, an event unparalleled in the lives of women everywhere. It’s the opening day for the Sex and the City Movie!!

Sarcasm aside, I’ll be the first to admit that I love popular culture, bad movies, and cheesy music. I don’t want to make anyone feel bad for loving any form of entertainment. However, when it comes to Sex and The City, I always have mixed feelings. On one hand, isn’t it refreshing to see a group of women support each other and not constantly compete with one another over men? On the other hand, the rampant materialism illustrated in the television show and movie are part of the culture that leads to overconsumption, sweatshop labor and many of the other various labor abuses we all fight against every day.

For those not in the know, Sex and the City is a story of four women Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha who not only love New York City but love all the finer things it has to offer. While the series focuses on the women’s lives and loves, a major part of the series is the fashion—illustrated most clearly by Carrie’s love and purchase of thousand dollar shoes.

Earthquake in China, Support for Workers

By Manfred Elfstrom, ILRF

As the death toll from the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province continues to rise, China is experiencing an unprecedented outpouring of public support for the victims.  Relief workers—158 of whom tragically died in landslides while rebuilding roads to the disaster area—have worked tirelessly to save lives.  Private cars packed with donated food have jammed roads.  College students have lit candles in their dorm room windows, while a three-minute national moment of silence was held a week after the quake.  And donations are flowing in from domestic and foreign sources.

This is doubtless a period of uncertainty for the millions of workers from Sichuan employed in other provinces (there are 1.5 million in Shenzhen alone), thousands of miles from their families and communities.  ILRF’s thoughts are with these workers, with our partners in China and with everyone affected by the earthquake.

The World Bank, the Food Crisis and Child Labor

Tim Newman, Campaigns Assistant, International Labor Rights Forum

A recent article published by Bloomberg outlines how World Bank lending policies have contributed to the global food crisis.  In exchange for taking loans from the World Bank, many countries in the Global South like Honduras, Haiti, the Philippines, Ghana and Mali, have been forced to adopt certain policy changes called structural adjustment programs (SAPs).  These one-size-fits-all sets of policies pushed by the World Bank include cutting protective tariffs and farm supports and shifting to the production of high-value crops for export instead of a focus on meeting local food consumption needs.  As a result, many farmers had to stop farming and move to cities to seek employment and domestic food markets suffered. 

These World Bank policies have contributed to a general decline in living standards for farmers around the world which includes poor labor standards, lack of access to services and as we are seeing now, major problems with food security.

Keep reading to find out more about the connections between World Bank policies, the food crisis and labor conditions.