On July 1^st the International Labor Rights Forum will enter an exciting and important new phase when we merge with Global Labor Justice and Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum begins as the Executive Director of the merged organization. This merger of two incredibly well-matched organizations is an opportunity to carry forward ILRF’s legacy and provide a larger, stronger base of support for our network of partners and allies around the world. We are excited about this next phase and we hope you will join us in supporting JJ and the newly merged team as they continue and grow this important work defending labor rights, defining the strategies that will transform the economy, and building a broader movement.

ILRF and GLJ have already worked together on several campaigns and projects, including the drafting of model arbitration clauses for enforceable brand agreements, featured below, and advocacy to stop gender-based violence in apparel supply chains and for the passage of the ILO’s Convention on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. On June 21st we celebrated the one-year anniversary of that victory for vulnerable workers everywhere!

Each year, the ILRF Awards ceremony brings together policy leaders, labor activists, and an increasingly diverse group of internationalists who know that human rights and economic justice depend on the ability of workers and their advocates to speak out and defend human rights at work. As the world economy continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the work of these advocates is more important than ever as they fight for workers’ wages and basic social protections for all. Please support the 2020 Labor Rights Defenders Awards as we highlight the intersectionality of labor rights, environmental issues, and children’s rights. This year, in particular, we will focus on the fight to end child labor. Three of the awardees are educators, coming from the proud history of teachers’ unions advocating rights for all, and the fourth awardee is the General Agricultural Workers’ Union of Ghana, which is on the front lines of fighting to end child labor in the cocoa industry and to secure decent wages for cocoa farmers. Click here to learn more about our four honorees in 2020.

On June 25th, 2020 the 20th edition of the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report was released by Secretary of State Pompeo. The TIP Report ranks governments based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge and combat human trafficking. The lowest (Tier 3) is applied to the worst performers and the top ranking (Tier 1) is awarded to governments that fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking set out in the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act. As an organization with deep experience in issues related to trafficking, ILRF offered comments in response to how Thailand, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have been ranked in the newly released TIP report. We rely on the TIP report to help drive national-level reforms and we will raise broader concerns this year given that the rankings appear to have been politically influenced for some countries.

“The TIP Report reminds us of the structural vulnerabilities of workers around the world based on race, gender, and migration status,” says Esmeralda López, ILRF’s Legal and Policy Director. “To combat labor trafficking, the United States needs to strongly promote freedom of association and assembly at home and around the world. Workers without strong organizations and collective voice and power will remain disadvantaged and vulnerable to severe forms of workplace exploitation.”

Improving Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Communications with Stakeholders Must Be A Two-Way Channel

Judy Gearhart and Esmeralda Lopez released a blog last week in response to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its report to the Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives, last week called “Forced Labor: Better Communication Could Improve Trade Enforcement Efforts Related to Seafood.” ILRF’s policy paper, “Combatting Forced Labor and Enforcing Workers’ Rights Using the Tariff Act” called for greater transparency from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and sought to establish equal access for NGOs and trade unions within CBP’s stakeholder engagement approach. The GAO recommendation is helpful if CBP’s approach to improving communications with stakeholders comes with broader two-way transparency – sharing more not only on the information they need but also sharing more about their decisions and the enforcement actions they take and the companies implicated. Without this two-way information flow, civil society stakeholders will be limited in their ability to help transform industries and combat forced labor and trafficking.

Model Arbitration Clauses for the Resolution of Disputes Under Enforceable Brand Agreements

Designed for direct incorporation into enforceable brand agreements, the Model Arbitration Clauses for the Resolution of Disputes under Enforceable Brand Agreements, advance a streamlined arbitration system with a rapid timeline that protects impartiality and due process while avoiding excessive litigiousness, promoting transparency, alleviating burdensome costs, and providing final and binding enforcement. Led by international law and labor law scholars, Lance Compa and Katerina Yiannibas, the Clauses draw from leading international arbitration rules and existing supply-chain agreements negotiated by trade unions, labor rights NGOs and brands.

ILRF’s longtime ally and Cotton Campaign steering committee member, Uzbek Forum for Human Rights released a report last week released a report titled, “Tashkent’s Reforms Have Not Yet Reached Us” - Unfinished Work in the Fight Against Forced Labor in Uzbekistan’s 2019 Cotton Harvest” was released by on the 2019 cotton harvest in Uzbekistan documents both meaningful progress toward ending forced labor and the persistence of government-organized forced labor. The report finds that the state-imposed cotton quota, structural labor shortages, the lack of fair and independent recruitment channels, and weak accountability systems contributed to significant ongoing forced labor, including in the newly privatized cotton textile cluster system. The report also documents that the pace of reform on civil society freedoms—especially the freedom of citizens to form civic associations such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and independent trade unions—has lagged far behind the pace of reforms in other key areas.

The absolute minimum that brands and retailers must do during this crisis is to pay for work already commissioned. When the practice of most brands to cancel orders was criticized, several major apparel companies back-tracked their decision, to the relief of factory owners. However, several major players in the field, including C&A, Gap, Nike, and Uniqlo, continue to stand by their decision not to pay for work already in process or completed or have turned to insufficient alternatives, such as Primark’s proposal for a fund to pay for the worker wage portion of its canceled orders.

Fyffes Farms Exposed: The Fight for Justice in the Honduran Melon Fields

During the 2019-2020 growing season, workers at Fyffes’ farms in Honduras continue to report blatant violations of their legally-guaranteed rights, including the dangerous misuse of toxic pesticides, denial of sick leave, the company’s failure to enroll its seasonal workers in the national healthcare and pension system, and coercion to force them to leave STAS and join a company-controlled union that was founded by management, in order to destroy genuine worker organizing. This report reviews the history of Fyffes’ labor violations in Honduras, the ongoing abuses, and the response from Fyffes, which includes silencing workers’ lived experiences by deploying futile corporate social responsibility programs that distract supermarkets and consumers from the reality on the farms. Until Fyffes acknowledges its history of worker exploitation in Honduras and takes responsibility to remedy the injustices – specifically by negotiating in good faith with STAS to sign a legally binding and enforceable agreement to uphold workers’ rights – thousands of farmworkers will continue to experience exploitation in the fields.

Time for a Sea Change: Why Union Rights for Migrant Workers are Needed to Prevent Forced Labor in the Thai Seafood Industry

Time for a Sea Change compiles analysis of the industry and legal environment to demonstrate that reform will continue to fall short for as long as migrant workers remain without rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Without such rights, forced labor and human trafficking will remain prevalent in the Thai seafood industry. The report also provides five case studies of attempts by migrant workers to organize and exercise their rights, where they have faced numerous challenges but also found some success.

Testimony for GSP Subcommittee Country Practice Review Hearing

In 2007, ILRF filed a GSP complaint, as part of the Cotton Campaign, challenging state-sponsored forced labor and forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton sector. On January 30, 2020, ILRF's Executive Director, Judy Gearhart testified on workers' rights in Uzbekistan at a public hearing held by the Office of United States Trade Representative.