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No Chocolate in the Cocoa Capital of the World

January 15, 2013

Most groups talked about the need for community
organizations so that local communities can support the local schools and
ensure their children go to school. We visited newly built and refurbished
schools in two communities, both of which reported still needing more space for
all the children who want to go to school. 
In one community we saw several brand new and refurbished
classrooms.  The community was very proud
of the school as they showed us the classroom which accommodates 104 first
graders – in one room!  The picture here
is of another village, near the town of Tiassalé, where the villagers asked us
to help them raise funds to complete a fourth classroom on their school; as the

Another Garment Factory Fire in Bangladesh

November 7, 2012

No one was inside the factory at the time of the fire,
presumably because of the holiday and because it occurred during the night.  Soon after the fire began, however, people
from the neighborhood came to the factory and attempted to put out the fire
with water. It was then that a person, “who simply got too close to the flames,”
was injured, says Majumder. The victim, who is not an employee of the factory, suffered
from burns on his arm and leg. It is unknown if he received any medical
attention or compensation for his injuries.

No More Child Labor Chocolate! Can Hershey Be Trusted?

October 10, 2012

1. Established Certifiers: Is Hershey going to use established third party certifiers or vendor assurance programs, like Armajaro’s SourceTrust program, which do little to address the problems of farmer income, cocoa sustainability, and child labor? If Hershey is going to use established third party certifiers, which one(s) are they going to use?  

2. Clear Benchmarks: How much certified cocoa is Hershey currently sourcing? How much certified cocoa does Hershey plan to purchase every year to meet the 2020 goal? 
Dedicated In-house

Workers’ Rights Movement in Pakistan Gains Momentum: Court Orders Arrest of Ali Enterprises Owners

October 8, 2012

The proceedings begin. The
District Judge Abdullah Channa is listening to arguments presenting evidence
that the factory gates were closed on
orders of the owners and the general manager after the fire broke out. At the very least this amounts to unpardonable criminal negligence. Already at
10am the
proceeding ends, but District Judge Channa withholds his judgment. 

H&M: Hypocrisy & Minimum wage

October 5, 2012

Let's think this through. Pretend you are the superintendent of a school district, and you’ve got all these unreasonable test policies, that have your teachers in their class rooms teaching 10 hour days to make sure they keep their jobs, and that their kindergarten kids pass calculus tests. Then one day, instead of adjusting your test policies and asking teachers to adjust accordingly, you talk to the governor of your state and ask him/her to sort things out. Not very logical.

Contractualization Slammed in “Global Day of Action”

September 27, 2012

In addition to commemorating the
anniversary of PALEA’s protest against outsourcing last year, the protests also
pushed for the passage of the security of tenure bill pending at Congress.
“Aside from the reproductive health and freedom of information bills, the
security of tenure measure is also jammed at the legislative mill. This social
reform proposal seeks to restrict the epidemic of contractual work and the
proliferation of 6 months endo jobs,” explained Rene Magtubo, PM national
chair.

Beggar-Thy-Neighbor: How Burma Will Take Bangladesh’s Sweatshop Jobs

September 24, 2012

Should either country be getting new trade benefits? Bangladesh has certainly been doing its best to get kicked out of US favor as of late; beginning in 2009, activists asked that Bangladesh’s trade privileges be revoked for horrendous labor rights abuses, including tragic factory fires, arbitrary detention of labor rights activists and rampant nepotism and corruption in the industry. The recent assassination of a human rights activist even prompted Secretary of State Clinton to openly scold Bangladesh’s Prime Minister on a recent visit.

Worker Rights Movement Formed, Launching Movement Against Factory Fire Culprits

September 24, 2012

Barrister Faisal
Siddique briefed the meeting on the petition filed by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (PILER), National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), PFF, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), and other
organizations in Sindh High Court against the relevant government departments
and others responsible for the fire accident. He said that the state has totally
collapsed and only way to protect worker rights is through unified struggle.

It was the consensus of the
meeting to reject the commission and the government's half-hearted measures.

Deadly Denim: Workers Burned Alive Making Jeans for Export

September 14, 2012

More
than 300 trapped workers were killed in two separate fires on the same day—289
workers in an apparel factory in Karachi and 25 workers in a shoe factory in
Lahore—a day Nasir Mansoor, leader of the National Trade Union Federation of
Pakistan (NTUF)—calls the “darkest and saddest day in the history of Pakistan’s
labor movement.”

Pakistan Factory Fires Tied to Criminal Negligence by Government and Employers

September 13, 2012

Today, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the Federal Investigation Agency will investigate these factory fires. The irony is that the government is still not upholding its responsibility to implement laws with sufficient political will in order to ensure the protection of workers' basic rights, including safe working conditions and freedom of association. Instead, the government's response is to investigate the incident as an isolated, exceptional incident.

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