Labor Rights Week Kicks Off with Historic Agreement on Immigrant Workers’ Rights
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The ambassadors of El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic joined Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis today to sign a historic partnership to protect the labor rights of migrant workers from these countries who are employed in the United States.
The signing kicks off National Labor Rights Week, Aug. 29-Sept. 5. “Women in the Workplace” is the focus of this year’s Labor Rights Week. Migrant women are at risk of wage theft and safety violations, sexual harassment, workplace violence and gender discrimination.
This week, events are slated in 50 U.S. cities with Mexican and Central American consulates. Consulate officials will work with the Department of Labor, state labor authorities, labor unions, faith leaders and community groups to inform migrant workers about their rights and the resources available if those rights are violated.
U.S. Ratchets Up Pressure on Guatemala to Enforce Labor Laws
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The Obama administration is ratcheting up the pressure on Guatemala to enforce its labor laws. Yesterday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced it was moving forward with arbitration against Guatemala for violating fundamental labor rights under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).
Arbitration would be the third step in the process outlined under the DR-CAFTA, to compel a nation to enforce its labor obligations under the agreement. Last May, the United States requested a meeting of the Free Trade Commission—which includes ministers of the member countries—when consultations failed to resolve the dispute. The commission met last June.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka applauds the decision, saying it protects workers’ safety and voices. Read his full statement here.
U.S. Steps Up Pressure on Guatemala to Enforce Labor Laws
The Obama administration announced yesterday that because Guatemala has not taken sufficient steps to effectively enforce its labor laws, as required under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), it is requesting a meeting of the Free Trade Commission.
The meeting would be the second step in the process outlined under the DR-CAFTA, to compel a nation to enforce its labor obligations under the agreement. In July, the U.S. requested consultations with Guatemala. But as U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk says:
We have identified a significant number of apparent failures by the government of Guatemala to enforce its labor laws. While Guatemala has taken some positive steps over the past several months, its actions and proposals have been insufficient to address what we view as systemic failures.
Kirk says Guatemala has failed to enforce labor laws regarding the right of association, the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively, and acceptable working conditions. Read the rest of this entry »
Reynolds, Del Monte, Chiquita Top List of Worst Companies for Freedom of Association
Last Friday, International Human Rights Day, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) named R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. as one of the world’s worst companies of 2010 for workers’ freedom of association. Of the top five worst companies, three are headquartered in the United States: R.J. Reynolds, Chiquita Brands International and Fresh Del Monte Produce.
According to the ILRF, R.J. Reynolds’ annual profits top $2 billion, but the workers who pick the tobacco that goes into the company’s products barely make $8,000 a year, just one-third of the official poverty level for a family of four.
Executives of the nation’s second-largest tobacco company continue to refuse to meet with workers to discuss working conditions. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) reports that the tobacco workers suffer from racism, harassment, lethal pesticides, nicotine poisoning and lack of labor and human rights as well as poverty.
For First Time Ever, U.S. Moves to Enforce Labor Rules in Trade Deal
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The U.S. Labor Department announced on Friday the United States will request consultations with Guatemala’s government under the labor chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). This is the first such action by any U.S. administration against a trading partner.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement that the announcement “demonstrates the strong commitment of the Obama administration to enforcing our trade laws, including the obligation to respect workers’ rights.”
More than two years ago, the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan unions filed a complaint with the Labor Department outlining the systemic failure of the government of Guatemala to enforce its own labor laws or to take reasonable action to prevent violence against trade unionists.
Take Action Today to End Violence Against Guatemalan Trade Unionists
Since the Bush administration pushed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) through Congress in 2005, Guatemala has become the second most dangerous country for trade unionists in Latin America, trailing only Colombia, according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
The ITUC reported nine trade unionists were murdered in 2008, in addition to two trade unionists murdered in 2007. In the two years leading up to CAFTA’s approval, no trade unionists were murdered in Guatemala. According to the ITUC’s 2009 Annual Survey:
the situation [in Guatemala] has worsened for trade unionists. Anti-union violence is constant, with assassinations, threats, harassment, shootings at people’s homes, raids and attacks on union offices, and assaults and harassment of trade union leaders and their families.
Report: The Struggle for Workers’ Rights in Guatemala
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For decades, workers in Guatemala have been unable to fully benefit from the wealth in the country or to share the profits of their own labor. The nation’s 36-year armed conflict, which ended in 1996, involved savage repression of workers and indigenous people.
Although the fighting long has ended, the war generated a climate of corruption, violence and impunity that continues to grow, according to a new report by the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.
Released today, ”Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Guatemala” chronicles the courageous struggle of Guatemala’s workers to build better lives, often against deadly odds. Another report, the “Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights,” released a week ago by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), lists Guatemala as the second most dangerous country for union members in 2008, after Colombia.
91 Unionists Killed in 2008, 49 in Colombia Alone
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A total of 91 union members were killed worldwide last year, the same number as in 2007. But more than half (49) were killed in Colombia alone, 10 more than last year, making it once again the most dangerous country for trade unionists, according to the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC‘s) “Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights.”
The Colombian government has not vigorously investigated or prosecuted the killing of trade union members. At the current pace of investigations and trials, it would take 37 years to prosecute the backlog of cases. And the caseload is growing—the rate of killings, which had fallen for a few years, jumped sharply last year by 25 percent, says José Luciano Sanin, director of Escuela Nacional Sindical (National Union School), a leading Colombian think tank.
Bush Deals Last-Minute Insults to Workers’ Rights
The Bush administration couldn’t resist taking a final slap at human rights. In Bush’s final hours in office, he implemented on Friday a trade agreement with Peru despite calls by Congress, unions, environmental and human rights groups to delay action to ensure that Peru’s laws meet its commitments before the agreement enters into force.
The new “reforms” passed by Peru’s Congress last week are inadequate to protect the environment, promote worker rights and ensure access to affordable medicines, as required by the agreement.
At the same time, the Bush Labor Department’s Office of Trade & Labor Affairs rejected a petition, the first of its kind, under the labor provisions of the Central America Free Trade Act (CAFTA) The petition, filed in April by six Guatemalan unions, with the support of the AFL-CIO, involved five cases where employers suppressed, sometimes violently, workers’ efforts to form a union, and the government failed to protect worker’s internationally recognized rights.
AFL-CIO Policy Director Thea Lee says these two actions:
….were a parting shot of disrespect by the Bush administration.
In a last-ditch effort to avert criticism and secure implementation of the agreement before Bush left office, the Peruvian government approved a series of legislative reforms Jan. 13 that exacerbate current environmental problems, such as mass deforestation, and do not adequately address labor rights, labor and human rights groups say.
Here is Susan Ellsworth, associate representative with the Sierra Club:
The U.S. Congress voted for an FTA that members believed represented a new day for environmental protection and worker rights on trade agreements. This is not what will happen if Peru rushes through flawed laws at the eleventh hour.
Many members of Congress, including President Barack Obama, supported the U.S.-Peru agreement in 2007 because it included new and stronger provisions to promote worker rights and protect the environment. But the rush to certify the FTA now threatens to undercut these advances and lock inadequate laws into place.
Lee adds:
Peru’s labor laws still fall far short of meeting International Labor Organization standards, and we were deeply disappointed with the Bush administration’s decision to rush implementation without first securing compliance with the agreement’s provisions. This represents a wasted opportunity and shows poor faith on the part of our own government.
The Bush administration refused to even consider the Guatemalan unions’ complaint even though four union leaders and/or their family members were murdered in that country since the agreement was approved by Congress and many others have been victims of attempted murder or have received death threats. Workers who attempt to form or join a union, bargain collectively or conduct a strike still are routinely fired illegally, the unions say.
