_______________________________________________________________________ Today’s highlights on our efforts to expand labor rights and new forms of bargaining on global supply chains, capital markets, and international labor migration corridors include:
______________________________________________________________ Decent Work and Central American Migration Board Member Jennifer Gordon and Executive Director Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum published an op ed arguing that, “The long history of United States political intervention and economic extraction in Central America are key factors in the violence and corruption that are propelling people to leave today. A focus on decent work as a part of migration policy in the region is one way to address some of the damage from that legacy, to strengthen democracy and reduce inequality — and to lay the groundwork that will ultimately offer Central Americans a genuine choice to stay home.” This builds on testimony at the recent Congressional briefing GLJ-ILRF organized with the International Workers’ Rights Caucus to highlight the how the Honduran industrial agricultural workers’ union El Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares (STAS) has continued to struggle to organize farmworkers on the Fyffe’s supply chain. “The difference between staying in Honduras and leaving for the United States is not whether you have a job or not. It’s whether you have decent work,” states Tomás Membreño, President of STAS. More information on Fyffes can be found in the GLJ-ILRF report Fyffes Farms Exposed: The Fight for Justice in the Honduran Melon Field. “We should be insisting that part of any trade agreement, any international relationship, financial, trade, economic, whatever it may be will hinge upon the protection of labor and human rights in that country,” emphasized Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ 3rd). Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL 9th) also spoke powerfully and committed to continue her leadership bringing attention to international labor rights and decent work in Central America for STAS and unions like it in the region, and globally. ______________________________________________________________ GLJ-ILRF Calls for the Protection of the Lives and Rights of the Colombian People Beginning on April 28th, workers and young people throughout Colombia have taken to the streets in strikes and mobilizations. Their demand is simple and just: the poor and working classes cannot afford to pay even more of the costs of this economic crisis. A popular sign in the protest reads, “If people protest during a pandemic, it’s because they have more to fear from their government than from the virus.” As has been too often the story in Colombia, these protests were met with brutal repression, murder, disappearances, and sexual violence. GLJ-ILRF stands with the global labor movement in repudiating the Colombian government’s response to protests and the country’s ongoing violence against union leaders and social activists. We add our voice to the call led by our partners at UNI Americas: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights must intervene immediately to protect the lives and rights of the Colombian people. ______________________________________________________________ GLJ-ILRF Stands in Solidarity With New Jersey Workers Who Exposed Forced Labor and are Demanding Transnational Labor Justice Across the BAPS Global Supply Chain GLJ-ILRF stands in solidarity with the caste oppressed workers in New Jersey who came forward & exposed forced labor along the BAPS global supply chain last week and are demanding transnational labor justice. With the support of unions in the United States and India, these workers are demanding change to a global economy. GLJ-ILRF stands with them and calls on the Biden Administration to continue to expand the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers both as part of U.S. domestic economic policy as well as in migration, development, and foreign policy. You can read GLJ-ILRF’s full statement of solidarity here and find more information including press and statements of support here. ______________________________________________________________ CALL TO ACTION: Rana Plaza Never Again - Tell Brands to Keep Garment Workers Safe The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh has been the most successful safety program in the contemporary history of fashion supply chains, resulting in major safety renovations at factories and drastically reducing risks of workplace injury and deaths for Bangladeshi workers. The Accord is a binding, independent and enforceable agreement between fashion brands, trade unions, and witnesses including GLJ-ILRF, signed weeks after the Rana Plaza factory building collapse on April 24, 2013, in which 1,133 workers were killed. The Accord was scheduled to expire on May 31 unless signatories agree to a new successor agreement. Unions with their international allies including Witness Signatory GLJ-ILRF have proposed that fashion brands sign onto a new successor agreement to protect the progress the Accord represents. The proposed successor agreement to the Accord includes enforceable and binding commitments on individual fashion corporations, an independent inspectorate and secretariat to implement and monitor the agreement, and expansion of the principles and program to other countries where garment workers’ lives are routinely at risk at work. On Sunday, UNI Global Union, IndustriALL Global Union and a brand negotiating announced they had agreed to a three-month extension of the commitments of the 2018 Transition Accord to allow negotiations to continue. Christy Hoffman, UNI general secretary, said in a release: “We welcome this extension, which will allow us more time to negotiate a successor agreement to the Accord. We must put the mechanisms in place to ensure the success and credibility of the RSC as well as a safe workplace for millions of workers.” Eight years after Rana Plaza, despite significant progress on health and safety at Bangladeshi garment factories, the need for continued action is urgent. Factories covered by the Accord still have major safety hazards that the Accord would obligate them to correct under a successor agreement, as shown in recent research by Accord witness signatories including GLJ-ILRF. Binding and enforceable agreements between workers and multinational corporations — like the Accord and its proposed successor agreement — are essential tools for workers to organize and bargain with companies at the top of cross border supply chains. Join GLJ-ILRF in demanding the Accord’s brand signatories agree to a successor agreement and protect progress on fire and building safety at garment factories in Bangladesh. Take a moment to send a direct message to brand signatories here to demand a successor agreement to the Accord in solidarity with Bangladeshi unions and workers to protect progress on health and safety in fashion supply chains in Bangladesh. |
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