News Articles
| WORLD: Disaster Plans Lacking at Deep Rigs by Ben Casselman and Guy Chazen, Wall Street Journal May 17th, 2010 Dealing with a deep-sea spill is a a problem that spans the industry, whose major players include Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell and Petróleo Brasileiro SA. Without adequately planning for trouble, the oil business has focused on developing experimental equipment and techniques to drill in ever deeper waters, according to a Wall Street Journal examination. |
| US: U.S. Said to Allow Drilling Without Needed Permits by Ian Urbina, New York Times May 13th, 2010 The federal Minerals Management Service gave permission to BP and dozens of other oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico without first getting required permits from another agency that assesses threats to endangered species — and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf. |
| US: BP touts itself as 'green,' but faces PR disaster with 'BP oil spill' by Paul Farhi, Washington Post May 6th, 2010 Ever careful of its public image, BP has been careful not to invoke its name in regard to the massive ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "We refer to it as Gulf of Mexico response," said Andrew Gowers, the company's spokesman. The name of a disaster can be critical, both as a historic matter and the more immediate matters of image, public relations and legal liability. |
| US: FBI Probes Explosion in West Virginia Mine by Kris Maher and Siobhan Hughes, Wall Street Journal April 30th, 2010 The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal probe of the deadly explosion at a Massey Energy Co. mine in West Virginia in early April that killed 29 miners, according to people familiar with the matter. In a statement on Friday Massey Energy said, "Massey has no knowledge of criminal wrongdoing." |
| US: Deaths at West Virginia Mine Raise Issues About Safety by Ian Urbina and Michael Cooper, New York Times April 6th, 2010 Rescue workers began the precarious task Tuesday of removing explosive methane gas from the coal mine where at least 25 miners died the day before. The mine owner’s -- Massey Energy Company -- dismal safety record, along with several recent evacuations of the mine, left federal officials and miners suggesting that Monday’s explosion might have been preventable. |
| CANADA: Canadian Rail Engineers Begin a Strike by Ian Austen, New York Times November 28th, 2009 About 1,700 locomotive engineers with the Canadian National Railway went on strike early Saturday. The walkout followed a decision by Canadian National to impose a new contract on its workers, including a 500-mile increase in the distance engineers are required to cover each month. The union said that the increased distance would sometimes make engineers work seven-day weeks without overtime. |
| US: A Dispute Over Unionizing at Montana Hair Salons by Steven Greenhouse, New York Times August 29th, 2009 The Regis Corporation, parent of Cost Cutters and the largest hair salon company in the U.S., is asking stylists in Montana to sign a document foregoing any future pro-union signature. Regis claims the document is meant to protect against union-card legislation now in Congress. |
| INDONESIA: Scramble for coal assets in Indonesia by Sundeep Tucker and John Aglionby, Financial Times June 7th, 2009 Some of the world’s largest energy groups are scrambling to acquire coal mining assets in Indonesia as family-run conglomerates consider divestments to raise cash. Peabody Energy, the US coal miner, and Xstrata, the Anglo-Swiss miner, are believed to be among those interested. Industry analysts said Chinese, South Korean, Indian and Middle Eastern companies were also scouring Indonesia for assets. |
| WORLD: The Jewel Trade's Fading Luster by V. Dion Haynes and Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post March 28th, 2009 The drop in U.S. demand for high-end jewelry in a slumping economy is having ripple effects around the globe as stores close, workers are laid off in mass in the diamond-polishing factories of Gujarat, and countries like Botswana experience a dramatic drop in diamond revenue. |
| US/CANADA: Alaskan lake’s fate could echo across continent by Todd Wilkinson, Christian Science Monitor March 24th, 2009 A landmark legal case now before the US Supreme Court holds huge implications for lakes across the continent. Nearly four decades the Clean Water Act was passed to protect waterways from industrial pollution, a proposal by Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. to dispose of tons of effluent in Alaska's Lower Slate Lake has sparked an international debate. |
| UGANDA/IRAQ: Why 10,000 Ugandans are eagerly serving in Iraq by Max Delany, Christian Science Monitor March 6th, 2009 Hired out to multibillion-dollar companies for hundreds of dollars a month, 10,000 Ugandans risk their lives seeking fortunes protecting US Army bases, airports, and oil firms in Iraq for as little as $600 per month. Many are looking to go to Afghanistan as the Obama administration increases contracts there. |
| US, GLOBAL: Layoffs Without Notice Sting Workers by Steve Lohr, New York Times March 5th, 2009 With the economy weakening, chief executives want Wall Street to see them as tough cost-cutters who are not afraid to lay off workers. Big companies also routinely carry out scattered layoffs that are small enough to stay under the radar, contributing to an unemployment rate that keeps climbing. I.B.M. is one such company. |
| US: 'Card check' ballots to determine union representation by Erin Rosa, Colorado Independent February 24th, 2009 Glenn Spencer, executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was in Denver on Monday to decry H.R. 800, federal legislation that would give workers greater rights to unionize. Spencer spoke at the offices of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry and warned of the “most radical rewrite of labor law in 70 years.” |
| UK, ITALY: Italian business body hits at Brown by Jean Eaglesham, Financial Times February 9th, 2009 In the context of global debate around the unfettered free-market system, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown comes under fire from an Italian business association for not reining in wildcat labor strikes at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire. |
| JAPAN: Nissan to Slash Payroll, Pare Japanese Output by John Murphy, Wall Street Journal February 9th, 2009 Nissan Motor Co. Monday announced plans to slash more than 20,000 jobs world-wide, shift production out of Japan and seek government assistance from Japan, the U.S. and elsewhere, part of a broad new effort by the Japanese car maker to weather the economic downturn. |
| US: In Factory Sit-In, an Anger Spread Wide by MONICA DAVEY, New York Times December 7th, 2008 In a glimpse at how the nation’s loss of more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs this year is boiling over, workers laid off from Republic Windows and Doors, said they would not leave, after company officials announced that the factory was closing. The workers were owed vacation and severance pay and were not given the 60 days of notice generally required by federal law in lay-offs. |
| US/IRAQ: Indiana guardsmen sue defense contractor KBR by Farah Stockman, Boston Globe December 4th, 2008 Sixteen Indiana national guardsmen filed a lawsuit yesterday against military contractor KBR. The complaint alleges that several reservists contracted respiratory system tumors and skin rashes after guarding reconstruction work at the Qarmat Ali treatment plant, strewn with the toxin chromium dichromate. |
| WORLD: Workforce deaths at Shell higher than for other western oil groups by Ed Crooks, Financial Times December 1st, 2008 Royal Dutch Shell last year suffered more workforce deaths than any other large western oil company. Two employees and 28 contractors were killed working for Shell in 2007. Nine of last year's deaths were in Nigeria, with two people killed in attacks on Shell facilities, and 10 in Russia. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: AngloGold workers protest SAfrican mine deaths by James Macharia, Reuters October 2nd, 2008 Three workers in South Africa died after three separate mining incidents as miners at AngloGold Ashanti's TauTona mine stopped work over a fatality there last week, union and company officials said on Thursday. |
| EU: Lehman sees 750 Europe jobs axed BBC September 30th, 2008 The administrators of Lehman Brothers' European division have cut 750 jobs at the firm with immediate effect. |
| US: 2nd Walkout at Boeing in 3 Years
by MICHELINE MAYNARD, The New York Times September 6th, 2008 The Boeing Company, whose order books are bulging with demand for its planes, was hit by its second major strike in three years early Saturday, when the union that represents 27,000 machinists in Washington State, Oregon and Kansas walked off the job. |
| US: Inquiry Finds Under-Age Workers at Meat Plant
by JULIA PRESTON, The New York Times August 5th, 2008 State labor investigators have identified 57 under-age workers who were employed at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, and have asked the attorney general to bring criminal charges against the company for child labor violations, Dave Neil, the Iowa Labor Commissioner, said on Tuesday. |
| US: Companies Tap Pension Plans
To Fund Executive Benefits
by ELLEN E. SCHULTZ and THEO FRANCIS, The Wall Street Journal August 4th, 2008 In recent years, companies from Intel Corp. to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans. This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for executives' supplemental benefits and compensation. |
| US: OSHA Seeks $8.7 Million Fine Against Sugar Company
by SHAILA DEWAN, The New York Times July 26th, 2008 Imperial Sugar, the owner of a refinery near Savannah where 13 workers died in a sugar dust explosion in February, knew of safety hazards at the plant as early as 2002 but did nothing, and should pay more than $8.7 million for safety violations, the head of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Friday. |
| US: Toxic Smoke and Mirrors by Jim Morris, Mother Jones Filed in federal District Court in Cleveland, their claim joined thousands of others pending against welding-products manufacturers in state and federal courts. (Employers have not been among the targets because lawyers generally concluded they were ignorant of the metal's dangers.) |
| US: Workers on Hunger Strike Say They Were Misled on Visas
by JULIA PRESTON, The New York Times June 7th, 2008 The Indian workers say they were deceived by Signal International and labor recruiters when they paid as much as $20,000 for visas they believed would allow them to work and live permanently with their families in the United States. In fact, the H-2B visas are for short-term contracts. |
| US: Wal-Mart's Detractors Come In From the Cold by MICHAEL BARBARO, New York Times June 5th, 2008 But after waging an aggressive public relations campaign against Wal-Mart for three years, the company's full-time, union-backed critics, who once vowed never to let up, are lowering their pitchforks. |
| GLOBAL: Union Takes Anti-Buyout Campaign Worldwide
by MICHAEL J. de la MERCED, The New York Times June 4th, 2008 Beginning Wednesday, the Service Employees International Union, one of the country’s biggest unions, will call upon people to attend protests on July 17 in 100 cities in 25 countries. The rallying cry will be: Take back the economy from buyout firms that the union says have exploited tax loopholes to amass great wealth at others’ expense. |
| US: In Stock Plan, Employees See Stacked Deck
by MARY WILLIAMS WALSH, The New York Times May 29th, 2008 Now that many U.S. Sugar workers are reaching retirement age, though, the company has been cashing them out of the retirement plan at a much lower price than they could have received. Unknown to them, an outside investor was offering to buy the company — and their shares — for far more. Longtime employees say they have lost out on tens of thousands of dollars each and millions of dollars as a group, while insiders of the company came out ahead. |
| US: Burger King Ends Dispute
With Farmworkers Group
Associated Press May 23rd, 2008 Burger King Corp. and a farmworkers advocacy group announced a deal Friday to end a bitter dispute by trying to boost wages and improve conditions for Florida tomato pickers. |
| RUSSIA: As Gazprom Goes, So Goes Russia by Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times May 11th, 2008 Gazprom and the Russian government have long had a close relationship, but the revolving door between them is spinning especially fast this year. But Gazprom also epitomizes the risks of state capitalism: waste and inefficiency. |
| US: Hawaii ironworkers' pension fund sues Alcoa, board members over Bahrain bribery allegations The Associated Press May 8th, 2008 The Hawaii Structural Ironworkers Pension Trust Fund accuses Alcoa's board in the lawsuit of "causing and/or failing to prevent Alcoa's illegal payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal bribe payments" to senior Bahraini government officials. |
| MEXICO: Pemex Oozes Corruption by Diego Cevallos , IPS May 7th, 2008 Funds belonging to the Mexican state oil monopoly, Pemex, have paid in recent years for liposuction treatment for the wife of the company's chief executive, a presidential candidate's campaign, contracts with firms facing legal action, and the whims of trade union leaders who are not required to account for their expenses. |
| CHINA: In China City, Protesters See Pollution Risk of New Plant by Edward Wong, New York Times May 6th, 2008 Residents took to the streets of Chengdu to protest a $5.5 billion ethylene plant under construction by PetroChina, reflecting a surge in environmental awareness by urban, middle-class Chinese determined to protect their health and the value of their property. |
| US: Working Life (High and Low)
by STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times April 20th, 2008 Jean called it “a great deal for FedEx. They don’t have to pay for trucks, for the insurance, for fuel, for maintenance, for tires,” she said. “We have to pay for all those things. And they don’t have to pay our Social Security.” |
| US: Rape in Iraq Recounted by SUZANNE GAMBOA, The Associated Press April 10th, 2008 An Illinois woman who says she was raped while working for a contractor in Iraq recounted the experience in a congressional hearing Wednesday. |
| US: US business unites to fight labour reform by Jonathan Birchall and Francesco Guerrera, The Financial Times April 9th, 2008 US business leaders are stepping up a campaign against proposed labour law reforms, backed by the Democrats, that could significantly enhance the ability of unions to organise workers. |
| US: America for Sale: 2 Outcomes When Foreigners Buy Factories
by PETER S. GOODMAN, The New York Times April 7th, 2008 As foreign buyers descend upon the United States, capturing widening swaths of the industrial landscape and putting millions of Americans to work for new owners, these two cities offer sharply competing narratives for a nation still uneasy about being on the selling end of the global economy. |
| US: CALIFORNIA $100 million tip for Starbucks servers by Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer, The San Francisco Chronicle March 21st, 2008 A San Diego judge ordered Starbucks to pour more than $100 million into the accounts of its low-wage coffee-servers in California on Thursday after ruling that the company had improperly required the workers to share tips with their bosses. |
| US: Families Sue Chiquita in Deaths of 5 Men
by CARMEN GENTILE, The New York Times March 17th, 2008 Last week, Ms. Julin, who has remarried, and the widows of the four other men filed a lawsuit against Chiquita Brands International Inc., saying the company contributed to their husbands’ deaths by financing the leftist group. |
| US: Workers Sue Gulf Coast Company That Imported Them by ADAM NOSSITER, The New York Times March 11th, 2008 A group of 500 foreign welders and pipefitters brought in to work at Gulf Coast oil rig yards after Hurricane Katrina said Monday that they had sued their employer, claiming they were lured with false promises of permanent-resident status, forced to live in inhumane conditions and then threatened when they protested. |
| CAYMAN ISLANDS: Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore
by Farah Stockman, The Boston Globe March 6th, 2008 Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation's top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of Halliburton Corp., has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in this tropical tax haven. |
| US: Immigration Agency Accused of Illegal Searches by N.C. Aizenman, The Washington Post February 26th, 2008 A privately convened commission of labor and immigrant advocates held the first of several planned nationwide hearings yesterday to publicize allegations that U.S. immigration officials routinely violate constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure during workplace raids. |
| KAZAKHSTAN: Kazakhs warn Mittal over safety by Isabel Gorst in Moscow and Peter Marsh in London, The Financial Times Limited 2008 February 19th, 2008 Kazakhstan has warned ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel company, that it could be forced to close one of its coal mines if it does not improve safety following an explosion last month that killed 30 people. |
| INDIA: H.P. Case to Go Forward in India
by HEATHER TIMMONS, The New York Times January 31st, 2008 A decision by India’s highest court may force international companies who outsource business here to do more to guard the safety of local workers. |
| CHILE: Copper Boom - Cui Bono? by Daniela Estrada, IPS News January 11th, 2008 According to global forecasts, the price of copper, Chile’s main export, will remain high in 2008 thanks to strong demand from China. But just who will benefit from this bonanza is up for debate. |
| CHINA: In Chinese Factories, Lost Fingers and Low Pay by DAVID BARBOZA, New York Times January 5th, 2008 Nearly a decade after some of the most powerful companies in the world — often under considerable criticism and consumer pressure — began an effort to eliminate sweatshop labor conditions in Asia, worker abuse is still commonplace in many of the Chinese factories that supply Western companies, according to labor rights groups. |
| US: Former miners oppose bond release by Nathan Blackford, Warrick Publishing Online January 2nd, 2008 Former miners do not want the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to release the final portion of a $4 million bond on a large section of the North Field at the Squaw Creek Mine. |
| IRAQ: Shame of Imported Labor in Kurdish North of Iraq by Michael Kamber, New York Times December 29th, 2007 Thousands of foreign workers have come to the Kurdish districts in northern Iraq in the last three years. Many have been deceived by unscrupulous agents who arrange the journeys, like the Bangladesh-based Travel Mix agency. |
| IRAQ: Sexual Violence: An Occupational Hazard -- In Iraq and at Home by Marie Tessier, Women's Media Center December 26th, 2007 Jamie Leigh Jones was just 20 in 2005 when she took a leap of faith to work in Iraq for her employer, military contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root, then a subsidiary of Halliburton. She went on a mission she believed in. Shortly after her arrival in Iraq, however, Jones' ambitions were dashed in an alleged gang rape by co-workers. |
| INDIA: Many rescued child laborers in India soon back at another dismal job by Heidi J. Shrager, Chronicle Foreign Service December 23rd, 2007 A 2006 report by the Child Welfare Committee found that 12 of 22 children from a village in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar were re-trafficked, mostly to different states, within a year after being rescued from a Delhi hand-embroidery sweatshop. |
| CHINA: China Grabs West’s Smoke-Spewing Factories by Joseph Kahn and Mark Landler, New York Times December 21st, 2007 In its rush to re-create the industrial revolution that made the West rich, China has absorbed most of the major industries that once made the West dirty. |
| GLOBAL: Mining Firms Bulk Up, Echoing Big Oil Mergers by Patrick Barta and Robert Guy Matthews, Wall Street Journal December 18th, 2007 Mining are embarking on another round of deals that promises industry juggernauts with great influence over the cost of raw materials -- and, by extension, the price of consumer electronics, cars and new apartment blocks. |
| US: Senator Says Wal-Mart Sells Products From Sweatshops
by Reuters, New York Times December 13th, 2007 A Democratic senator said Wednesday that Christmas tree ornaments sold at Wal-Mart Stores and other major retailers were made in a Chinese sweatshop. |
| IVORY COAST: The Bitter Taste of Cocoa in Côte d'Ivoire by Michael Deibert, IPS News December 3rd, 2007 In addition to funding conflict, cocoa revenues are believed to have been defrauded for enrichment of persons in both the government and rebel camps. Article also mentions the following corporations: Lev-Ci and Cargill. |
| US: New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India by Heather Timmons and J. Adam Huggins, New York Times November 26th, 2007 Companies responsible for the manufacturing of manholes are criticized over worker conditions in India, where manufacturing takes place.javascript:change_form_block( 'location_trigger' ); |
| US: Gap Campaigns Against Child Labor by Amelia Gentleman, New York Times November 15th, 2007 Gap has begun an effort to rebuild its reputation after a child-labor scandal in India. |
| US: Banana Workers Get $3.3M In Pesticide Case
AP November 7th, 2007 A Los Angeles jury awarded $3.3 million to six workers on Monday who claimed they were left sterile by a pesticide used at a banana plantation in Nicaragua operated by Dole Fresh Fruit Co. |
| US: Gap plans 'sweatshop free' labels by Dan McDougall, Guardian November 4th, 2007 In what would be the biggest commitment to ending child labour ever undertaken by a major retailer, Gap Inc is drawing up plans to label its products 'Sweatshop Free'. |
| US: Indian 'slave' children found making low-cost clothes destined for Gap by Dan McDougall, Guardian October 28th, 2007 Child workers, some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids. |
| US: BP Settlements Seen on Safety and Price Cases by Stephen Labaton and Lowell Bergman, NY Times October 24th, 2007 The British energy company BP, tarnished by a string of costly legal problems, is preparing to settle accusations that it was criminally indifferent to worker safety and that it manipulated energy prices. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: Old perils resurface as trapped S African miners emerge alive by Alec Russell in Carletonville, Financial Times October 5th, 2007 Old perils resurface as trapped S African miners emerge alive. |
| US: Wal-Mart Workers Win $62 Million by Marieclaire Dale, AP October 4th, 2007 Wal-Mart workers in Pennsylvania who previously won a $78.5 million class-action award for working off the clock will share an additional $62.3 million in damages, a judge ruled Wednesday. |
| INDIA: Child labour on the rise in cottonfields by Ch Prashanth Reddy, Business Standard October 1st, 2007 More than 416,000 children under the age of 18, of whom almost 225,000 are younger than 14, are involved in child labour in India's cottonseed production. Most of them are girls. |
| US: 73,000 U.A.W. Members Go on Strike Against G.M. by Michelle Maynard, New York Times September 25th, 2007 The United Automobile Workers union wielded its most potent weapon against General Motors yesterday, sending 73,000 workers to picket lines in its first national strike at G.M. since 1970. |
| US: UAW Workers Walk Off the Job by John D. Stoll and Jeffrey McCracken, Wall Street Journal September 24th, 2007 The decision Monday by the United Auto Workers to walk off the job at General Motors highlights yet again the divisive element of healthcare in labor relations, and how what began as a historic accident is now the single biggest liability for both businesses and workers. |
| CHINA: The Misery of China's Mines As Anger Flares Over Latest Disaster,Workers and Families Feel Powerless by Edward Cody, Washington Post August 22nd, 2007 Anger at the wide spread pain and suffering of mining communities flares with each new disaster and the recent collapse of a mine on the Chaiwen River is no exception. |
| CHINA: U.S. Group Accuses Chinese Toy Factories of Labor Abuses by David Barboza , New York Times August 21st, 2007 A workers’ rights group in the United States released a report on Tuesday detailing what it called brutal conditions and illegal practices in Chinese toy factories, many of which supply some of the world’s biggest brand-name toy makers, including Walt Disney and Hasbro. |
| INDIA: Indians Protest Wal-Mart’s Wholesale Entry by Amelia Gentleman, The New York Times August 9th, 2007 Wal-Mart, in a struggle to expand its global reach, is trying to enter India through the back door, but many consumers here have taken notice. |
| WORLD: We must count the true cost of cheap China by Richard McGregor, Financial Times August 2nd, 2007 In the wake of the multiple scandals over tainted Chinese food and drug exports in recent months, Chinese goods now have an indelible image of being not just cheap, but life-threatening as well. But the fact that wrongly labelled foods, liquor and pharmaceuticals have routinely sickened and even killed people en masse in China has been largely overlooked. |
| COLOMBIA: Suing Multinationals Over Murder by Ken Stier, TIME Magazine August 1st, 2007 Organized labor often complains of its treatment at the hands of corporate America, but its accusations pale in comparison to those made recently by the widows of Colombian mine workers in an Alabama courtroom. During a two-week trial, a Birmingham jury weighed charges that the local Drummond Coal Company bore responsibility for the murders of three union leaders who represented workers at its Colombian mine - the world's largest open pit mine. |
| MEXICO: Thousands of Unpaid Teens Bag Groceries for Wal-Mart by Joseph Contreras, Newsweek August 1st, 2007 Wal-Mart prides itself on cutting costs at home and abroad, and its Mexican operations are no exception. Wal-Mart is Mexico's largest private-sector employer in the nation today, with nearly 150,000 local residents on its payroll. An additional 19,000 youngsters between the ages of 14 and 16 work after school in hundreds of Wal-Mart stores, mostly as grocery baggers, throughout Mexico-and none of them receives a red cent in wages or fringe benefits. |
| CHINA: Beijing Games Officials Penalize Firms
by Mei Fong, The Wall Street Journal August 1st, 2007 The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee said it was taking corrective measures after a monthlong investigation found that four factories making Olympic merchandise were guilty of labor violations. |
| US: A Storied Union Takes On Starbucks by Moira Herbst, Business Week August 1st, 2007 The Industrial Workers of the World is taking on the coffee giant and its much-praised workplace practices |
| BRITAIN: Brown unveils global anti-poverty drive by Jean Eaglesham, Financial Times August 1st, 2007 Gordon Brown yesterday unveiled a "moral" alliance of leaders of governments and multinationals to tackle global poverty, telling the United Nations that globalisation could be a force for justice. |
| IRAQ: Foreign Workers Abused at Embassy, Panel Told by William Branigin, The Washinton Post July 27th, 2007 Two American civilian contractors who worked on a massive U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad told Congress yesterday that foreign laborers were deceptively recruited and trafficked to Iraq to toil at the site, where they experienced physical abuse and substandard working conditions. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: S African miners vote to strike BBC News July 26th, 2007 South African workers for the world's biggest diamond producer, De Beers, have voted to go on strike over pay. |
| COLOMBIA: Drummond Union: Govt Muffles Key Witness by Frank Bajak, Forbes.com July 24th, 2007 The union activists suing U.S. coal company Drummond Co. Inc. in Alabama in the 2001 murders of three labor leaders say deliberate foot-dragging by Colombian authorities is preventing the jury from hearing their star witness. Concerned by the delay, 12 Democrats in the U.S. Congress wrote Colombia's vice president last week asking him to intercede. |
| US: Tax Break Used by Drug Makers Failed to Add Jobs by Alex Berenson, The New York Times July 24th, 2007 Two years ago, when companies received a big tax break to bring home their offshore profits, the president and Congress justified it as a one-time tax amnesty that would create American jobs. Drug makers were the biggest beneficiaries of the amnesty program, repatriating about $100 billion in foreign profits and paying only minimal taxes. But the companies did not create many jobs in return. Instead, since 2005 the American drug industry has laid off tens of thousands of workers in thi |
| NIGERIA: Tycoon exits Nigerian oil deals BBC News July 19th, 2007 Nigerian consortium Bluestar, led by tycoon Aliko Dangote, has pulled out of a deal to take stakes in oil refineries after protests by trade unionists. |
| UK: MPs want UK to pay living wage to overseas staff by Karen McVeigh, The Guardian (UK) July 17th, 2007 MPs called for legislation yesterday to make British retailers pay their garment workers overseas a living wage. |
| UN: Global Compact with Business 'Lacks Teeth' - NGOs by Gustavo Capdevila, Inter Press News Service (IPS) July 6th, 2007 The U.N.'s Global Compact with international big business "at the moment is so voluntary that it really is a happy-go-lucky club," says Ramesh Singh, chief executive of ActionAid, a non-governmental organisation. The controversy has come to a boiling point because of the Global Compact Leaders' Summit being held in Geneva on Thursday and Friday, at which over 1,000 representatives of multinational companies are taking part, in addition to well-known civil society figures like Irene Khan, the secretary general of AI; Mary Robinson, president of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative; Guy Ryder, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation; and Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International. |
| US: States Target Big-Box Stores; Maine Is First to Require That Wal-Mart, Rivals Undergo Impact Studies by Kris Hudson, The Wall Street Journal June 29th, 2007 Maine Gov. John Baldacci last week signed into law a measure requiring developers of retail stores exceeding 75,000 square feet to conduct studies gauging the project's impact on municipal services, the environment and local businesses. Similar measures have been passed in other states. |
| CHINA: The Growing Dangers of China Trade by Jyoti Thottam, TIME Magazine June 28th, 2007 Growing concerns over the safety of everyday goods manufactured in China and imported to the US have thrown into relief the problematic (and dangerous) differences in safety and regulatory standards between the two countries. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: Globalization Brings South Africa Gains -- and Pains by David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal June 21st, 2007 Globalization has been both a boon and a bane for South Africa; it has helped along the country's integration into the global economy and strengthened its regional political position, but it has also contributed to the widening gap between a wealthy minority and the poor majority, something that is creating a whole new generation of disenfranchised citizens. |
| US: Fired worker wins Wal-Mart case BBC News June 20th, 2007 A female pharmacist dismissed by Wal-Mart has been awarded nearly $2m (£1m) in damages after a jury concluded she was the victim of discrimination. |
| MALAYSIA: Death of a Migrant Worker by Anil Netto, Inter Press Service News Agency June 19th, 2007 False promises of good pay and healthy working conditions fed to Indian migrant workers in Malaysia have led to destitution, physical abuse, and now, it seems, death. |
| US: Offshoring and Cheap Imports May Hurt Workers, OECD Says by Marcus Walker, The Wall Street Journal June 19th, 2007 Offshoring and inexpensive imports may be hurting low-skilled workers in the U.S. and Europe to the extent that free trade and open markets could become increasingly difficult for politicians to sell to their constituents, according to one of the world's leading economics institutes. |
| CHINA: Child Labour Scandal Exposes Gross Corruption by Antoaneta Bezlova, Inter Press Service News Agency June 18th, 2007 An unfolding national scandal on the large-scale abuse of child labourers in the brick kiln industry raises questions on the adequacy of planned labour laws that are supposed to take on sweatshops and protect workers' rights. |
| BURMA: No End to Forced Labour by Gustavo Capdevila , Inter Press Service News Agency June 15th, 2007 The International Labour Organisation (ILO) expressed profound concern about the persistence of forced labour in Burma, while it is closely monitoring the implementation of a mechanism for victims to file complaints, which was recently agreed with the Southeast Asian country's governing junta. |
| IRAQ: Caught in Trafficking by David Phinney, Inter Press Service News Agency June 15th, 2007 A Filipino air conditioner repairman's life was turned upside down when promises of good pay and work in Kuwait were replaced with the harsh realities of corrupt recruiters, horrible living conditions and forced work in Iraq. |
| CHINA: Child labour caution for China Olympics by Andrew Taylor, Financial Times June 10th, 2007 Licensed goods being made for next year’s Beijing Olympic Games are being manufactured by child labour and “sweatshops” in China, the Playfair Alliance says in a report published on Monday. |
| US: Laid-off Circuit City workers allege age bias in suit by Molly Selvin and Abigail Goldman, The Los Angeles Times April 6th, 2007 A lawsuit by three older Circuit City Stores Inc. employees, alleging that the retailer violated California age discrimination laws by laying them off because they were earning too much, is part of a surge in age bias complaints from disgruntled baby boomers. |
| CHINA: In Fear Of Chinese Democracy by Harold Meyerson, Washington Post April 4th, 2007 Listen to the apostles of free trade, and you'll learn that once consumer choice comes to authoritarian regimes, democracy is sure to follow. Call it the Starbucks rule: Situate enough Starbucks around Shanghai, and the Communist Party's control will crumble like dunked biscotti. |
| CHINA: China union says U.S. fast food chains broke wage law by John Ruwitch, Reuters April 4th, 2007 U.S. fast food chains, including McDonald's and KFC, broke minimum wage laws in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the state-backed labor union said on Wednesday, urging tougher enforcement of employment laws. |
| US: Fired Wal-Mart worker claims surveillance ops: report Reuters UK April 4th, 2007 The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. |
| BURMA: Natural Gas Project Threatens Human Rights Human Rights Watch March 24th, 2007 South Korean, Indian Investments May Lead to Complicity in Abuses |
| US: Judge OKs key witness in Colombian deaths case International Herald Tribune March 20th, 2007 A former Colombian security official who claims he saw an official of a U.S.-based company pay for the murders of union leaders in the South American country can testify in the upcoming civil trial over the deaths, a U.S. judge ruled Tuesday. |
| US: BP 'is to blame for Texas blast' BBC News March 20th, 2007 British oil giant BP has been heavily criticised by US safety investigators over a refinery disaster that killed 15 workers in 2005. |
| US: Halliburton's Dubai Move Sparks US Political Ire Agence France Presse March 12th, 2007 A weekend announcement by Halliburton, the US oil services giant, that it is shifting its corporate headquarters to Dubai from Texas triggered an angry response from some US lawmakers Monday. |
| CANADA: Supermarket chain grabs passports, coerces immigrant workers, suit alleges. by Tom Sandborn, The Tyee March 5th, 2007 T&T Supermarkets, a chain of specialty food stores serving Asian communities in Canada, stands accused of abusing the rights of foreign workers brought to Canada under a federal program. |
| ASIA: Charities slam conditions for computer workers by Frédéric Burnand and Adam Beaumont, SwissInfo February 27th, 2007 Two Swiss charities have sharply criticised labour conditions in Asian factories supplying parts to some of the world's leading computer brands. |
| CHINA: Disney sweats over sweatshop charges in China by Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News Analysis February 16th, 2007 Shenzhen supplier shuts shop following campaign against labour standards |
| CHINA: China's besieged factories: Activists aim to expose unscrupulous labor practices to shame companies by Craig Simons, Atlanta Journal-Constitution February 14th, 2007 Lei Huang could be a poster child for China's laboring classes. For each 60-hour week he works on an assembly line for Foxconn, a manufacturer of electronics and computer parts in this south China manufacturing hub, he earns $32 and a bunk in a dormitory room with 19 other laborers. |
| CHINA: Businesses help China's government abuse rights by Chang Ching-hsi, Taipai Times February 9th, 2007 Following the onset of reform in 1978, China has become the world's factory. By late February, its foreign exchange reserves had reached a total of US$853.7 billion, surpassing Japan's US$831.6 billion to become the largest in the world. Meanwhile, the human rights of the Chinese people remain severely restricted. |
| US: Lawsuit accuses Connecticut nursery of human trafficking by John Christoffersen, Associated Press February 8th, 2007 A dozen Guatemalan workers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing one of the nation's largest nurseries of engaging in human trafficking by forcing them to work nearly 80 hours per week, paying them less than minimum wage and denying them medical care for injuries on the job. |
| PAKISTAN: Child Labour - A crucial goal remains to be scored by Doug Cahn, Ethical Corporation February 7th, 2007 Ten years after the signing of the Atlanta Partnership on child labour, what will it take to finally eliminate the practice in the manufacture of footballs? Doug Cahn examines the issues |
| CHINA: New labor movement afoot in China:
Activists employing shame in effort to bring about change. by Craig Simons, Statesman News Service February 4th, 2007 Labor rights groups long have documented low pay and strict management in Chinese factories. But as Western firms increasingly move manufacturing to China to cut costs and raise profits, activists are adopting a strategy of publicizing conditions at globally recognized companies including Foxconn, which supplies dozens of international brands such as Apple Inc. from its Shenzhen facilities. |
| PNG: Ramu project 'needs review' Postcourier (Papua New Guinea) January 31st, 2007 Mr Ipatas said the agreement was done in such a way the State of Papua New Guinea and the landowners were mere observers on their own land while the developer got about 85 per cent of the takings. |
| US: Wal-Mart Agrees to Pay $33 Million in Back Wages (Update3) by Lauren Coleman-Lochner, Bloomberg January 25th, 2007 Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest U.S. private employer, will pay $33 million in back wages plus interest under an agreement with the U.S. Labor Department |
| US: New Scanners for Tracking City Workers by Sewell Chan, New York Times January 23rd, 2007 The Bloomberg administration is devoting more than $180 million toward state-of-the-art technology to keep track of when city employees come and go, with one agency requiring its workers to scan their hands each time they enter and leave the workplace. |
| BRAZIL: Enslaved workers make charcoal used to make basic steel ingredient by Michael Smith and David Voreacos, Seattle Times January 21st, 2007 Enslaved workers make charcoal used to make basic steel ingredient |
| Levi’s suspended by ethical group in living wage row by Sarah Butler, Times Online January 20th, 2007 Levi Strauss, the denim company, has been suspended from the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) for a year in a row over the concept of a living wage. |
| UK: Chief's Departure Ignites Criticism of BP's Structure and Environmental Policies by Heather Timmons, New York Times January 16th, 2007 Poor management and cost-cutting created a dangerous work environment at oil giant BP, according to a report released today based on hundreds of interviews with employees. |
| CHINA: Hundreds of workers protest company beatings
Asia News January 5th, 2007 Hundreds of workers yesterday held a protest in Pingshan (Shenzhen) outside DeCoro, an Italian sofa company, accusing supervisors of severely beating three employees who dared to ask for respect of the minimum wage. In November 2005 disputes had already taken place between the employees and the company with mutual accusations of violence made. |
| UK: Probe after workers burned in toxic leak The Northern Echo January 5th, 2007 Dozens of workers at a Teesside chemical plant received hospital treatment after suffering burns and breathing difficulties following a leak of 4.5 tonnes of toxic chemicals. |
| LIBERIA: Firestone's Liberian base called a 'gulag': A group has filed suit contending employees are overworked, underpaid, and exposed to pesticides. by Shashank Bengali, The Philadelphia Inquirer December 31st, 2006 In Liberia, a war-ravaged country with 80 percent unemployment, almost any job is a good one. But Firestone is increasingly under fire from human-rights advocates here and in the United States who say conditions on the 80-year-old plantation in Harbel - Firestone's single-biggest source of raw material for its U.S. manufacturing operations - are scandalous. |
| SWEDEN: Low Prices, High Social Costs: The Secrets in Ikea's Closet by Olivier Bailly, Jean-Marc Caudron and Denis Lambert, Le Monde Diplomatic December 29th, 2006 Despite Ikea's current claims, low prices always incur a high social cost. Between 1994 and 1997 three documentaries screened by German and Swedish television accused the firm of using child labor under degrading conditions in Pakistan, India, Vietnam and the Philippines |
| US: OSHA Cites Tool Maker Hartford Courant December 27th, 2006 A West Hartford tool manufacturing plant has been cited for widespread safety and health hazards for the third time in six years by the Hartford office of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency said Tuesday. |
| CHINA: Group reports harsh working conditions at Bratz factory Associated Press December 22nd, 2006 The pouty Bratz dolls so popular as Christmas presents are made at a factory in southern China where workers are obliged to toil up to 94 hours a week, among other violations, a labor rights group said in a report released Friday. |
| US: Noose incident sparks bias suit by Collin Nash, Newsday December 16th, 2006 A group of African-Americans employed as installers for a Cablevision subcontractor filed a discrimination complaint Friday against their employer and the media giant, alleging intimidation by white managers who the workers say dangled a noose from the rafters. |
| US: Houston janitors reach deal to end strike by Monica Rhor, Associated Press November 20th, 2006 Houston janitors ended a monthlong strike today against the city's five major cleaning companies after reaching a tentative agreement that will guarantee higher wages, more work hours and medical benefits. |
| US: BP Knew of Refinery Lapses Before Blast, U.S. Says (Update3) by Stephen Voss and Amy Strahan, Bloomberg October 30th, 2006 BP Plc's global management team knew of safety concerns at the company's Texas City, Texas, oil refinery before a deadly explosion last year, U.S. safety investigators said. |
| US: Bias written in black and white: study by Nicholas Hirshon, New York Daily News October 24th, 2006 A lack of racially diverse newsrooms often leads to biased media coverage of major events such as Hurricane Katrina, according to a St. John's University School of Law study. |
| VENEZUELA: Venezuela lawmaker says workers seize, stop Coca-Cola plants Market Watch October 23rd, 2006 Former Coca-Cola workers blocked access to all Coca-Cola Co. (KO) bottling plants in Venezuela and picketed administrative offices Monday, demanding a solution to a long-running dispute over unpaid severance. |
| US: Wal-Mart must pay workers $78m BBC October 13th, 2006 The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has been ordered to pay at least $78m in compensation to workers who were forced to work during breaks. |
| IRAQ: In Iraq, contractor deaths near 650, legal fog thickens by Bernd Debusmann, Reuters October 10th, 2006 The war in Iraq has killed at least 647 civilian contractors to date, according to official figures that provide a stark reminder of the huge role of civilians in supporting the U.S. military. |
| US: Somalis allege discrimination at Cold Spring poultry plant Associated Press October 9th, 2006 Nine Somali immigrant employees at poultry processor Gold'n Plump Poultry Inc. alleged in a federal lawsuit that they were discriminated against because of their race and their religion at the company's Cold Spring plant. |
| THAILAND: Lingerie workers rally at US embassy Bangkok Post October 8th, 2006 Around 800 Thai lingerie workers waved bras and placards to defy martial law and demonstrate in front of the US embassy on Sunday, demanding the Americans investigate the closure of an underwear factory. |
| US: Wal-Mart to Add More Part-Timers and Wage Caps by Steven Greenhouse and Michael Barbaro, The New York Times October 2nd, 2006 Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, is pushing to create a cheaper, more flexible work force by capping wages, using more part-time workers and scheduling more workers on nights and weekends. |
| KAZAKHSTAN: Thousands of Arcelor Mittal workers in Kazakhstan protest, demand pay raises Associated Press September 30th, 2006 Thousands of steelworkers on Saturday joined striking miners of an Arcelor Mittal-owned metal and mining complex in Kazakhstan, in an escalating standoff with the international steel giant over wages. |
| US: Wal-Mart to Shrink Options For New Hires' Health Care by Ylan Q. Mui and Amy Joyce, The Washington Post September 27th, 2006 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is scaling back the health-care plans available to new employees, sparking fresh criticism over whether the giant retailer is providing adequate coverage to its workers. |
| US: Chicago's Council Fails to Override Daley's Veto (Update3) by Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Kevin Orland, Bloomberg September 13th, 2006 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other large retailers claimed victory in Chicago after the City Council failed to override Mayor Richard Daley's veto of an ordinance requiring them to increase their minimum wage. |
| US: BP's U.S. chief faces more grilling in Congress by Shawn McCarthy, The Globe and Mail September 9th, 2006 It's Round 2 Tuesday for Robert Malone, BP PLC's recently installed chief of U.S. operations, as he struggles to restore the company's battered reputation in its biggest market. |
| TRINIDAD: Prime Minister sounds Alcoa warning by Clint Chan Tack, Newsday (Trinidad and Tobago) September 6th, 2006 Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday said Alcoa would not be allowed to construct its controversial aluminium smelter in Chatham if it does not commit to developing downstream aluminium industries in Trinidad and Tobago. |
| TRINIDAD: Residents, police clash in Chatham by Susan Mohammed, Newsday (Trinidad and Tobago) August 30th, 2006 A CONFRONTATION involving Chatham residents protesting the construction of ALCOA’s multi-million dollar smelter plant and Alcoa officials and police threatened to become violent yesterday, when a policeman held one of the protesters at gunpoint. |
| US: Judge tells BP leaders to give depositions by Anne Belli, The Houston Chronicle August 29th, 2006 Injured workers and families of those killed in an explosion at BP's Texas City refinery last year scored a court victory Monday when a judge ordered the London-based company's top two executives to give depositions in the case. |
| US: Suit Against Wal-Mart Is Narrowed Bloomberg News August 29th, 2006 A federal judge Monday dismissed civil racketeering claims against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., narrowing the scope of a lawsuit that accused the retailer of knowingly employing illegal immigrants to clean its stores. |
| US: Proposal to Build a Wal-Mart in Southern S.I. Is Scrapped by Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times August 25th, 2006 Wal-Mart’s plans to open its first New York City store at the southern tip of Staten Island have fallen through, company officials confirmed yesterday. |
| US: Int'l Coal Group stock down as mine survivor sues Reuters August 24th, 2006 Stock in International Coal Group Inc. slipped on Thursday, a day after the company was sued by the lone survivor of the mine disaster that killed 12 men at its Sago coal mine in West Virginia. |
| WORLD: Has Coke become the new McDonald's? by David Teather, The Guardian (UK) August 18th, 2006 Welcome to the Coke side of life. Africa's planned legal action is just the latest in a litany of alleged human rights and environmental abuses in developing markets that has made Coca-Cola a cause celebre. |
| US: Creditors: Dana execs' bonus plan could spur pension cuts by Joseph Rebello, Associated Press August 14th, 2006 Dana Corp. creditors said the company's latest plan to reward six top executives would allow them to reap a "windfall" if they were to get Dana to cut workers' retirement benefits. |
| CHILE: Escondida workers say no progress in talks by Raphael Minder in Sydney, Rebecca Bream in London and Paul Harris in Santiago, Financial Times August 9th, 2006 Striking workers at Chile’s Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest, said on Tuesday night that salary talks with the company failed to produce a deal but they would try again on Wednesday to seek a solution to the conflict. |
| US: Widow of Worker Sues Foam Factory by Jennifer Delson, The Los Angeles Times July 27th, 2006 The widow of a factory worker alleges in a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court that her 36-year-old husband died from long-term exposure to a deadly chemical at the world's largest manufacturer of surfboard blanks. |
| US: Guilty Plea in Ralphs Labor Case by Cynthia H. Cho, The Los Angeles Times July 27th, 2006 Ralphs grocery chain formally pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony charges that it illegally rehired locked-out employees during the 2003-04 supermarket labor dispute in Southern and Central California. |
| US: Widow of Worker Sues Foam Factory by Jennifer Delson, The Los Angeles Times July 27th, 2006 The widow of a factory worker alleges in a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court that her 36-year-old husband died from long-term exposure to a deadly chemical at the world's largest manufacturer of surfboard blanks. |
| UK: Shell confesses to poor North Sea safety record and pledges reform by Terry Macalister, The Guardian July 27th, 2006 Top management at Shell believes the company has a second-rate safety record in the North Sea and has failed to tackle the problem because parts of the organisation are in denial. |
| US: Latino, black workers try for unity by Darryl Fears , The Washington Post July 25th, 2006 When she finished eating dinner at the party, Lenora Bruce Bailey sat for a spell on a little wood porch facing Main Street. Two years ago, she had one of the best jobs around, boxing scraps of hog meat at the nearby packing plant. Then she got sick. "They terminated me," she said. "Took away my health insurance." |
| UK: Corporate Manslaughter Crackdown Cheers Unions by Patrick Wintour, The Guardian July 20th, 2006 The government will today resolve a long-running internal battle by introducing a corporate manslaughter bill in the Commons, making companies liable for any deaths due to a general breach of the duty of care by the firm. |
| UK: Shell Safety Under Fire as Brent Bravo Deaths Judged Preventable by Terry Macalister, The Guardian July 19th, 2006 Shell was accused of presiding over continuing safety problems on a key North Sea platform yesterday as a sheriff's court ruled that the oil company could have prevented the death of two workers there three years ago. |
| INDONESIA: Adidas 'fails to act' over sacked workers by John Aglionby, Guardian Unlimited July 6th, 2006 Sportswear giant Adidas has reneged on its promise to demand the reinstatement of 33 workers dismissed from a major Indonesian supplier in a way the country's human rights commission has found to be illegal, Oxfam alleged today. |
| US: Jackson Leads Anti-BP March Near Refinery The Associated Press July 5th, 2006 The Rev. Jesse Jackson brought his protest of BP PLC to the site of one of the state's worst refinery accidents Tuesday to speak against what he calls price gouging, discriminatory hiring practices and unsafe working conditions at the company. |
| US: The 100 Worst Corporate Citizens by Phil Mattera, The Corporate Research Project July 1st, 2006 For the past 52 years, Fortune magazine has been publishing a list of the largest U.S. corporations, an annual chance for chief executives to brag that "my revenue is bigger than yours." For the past seven years, Business Ethics magazine has issued another kind of ranking -- a list of what it calls the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" -- that promotes virtue over size in the perennial game of corporate comparisons. |
| ZAMBIA: Record Copper Prices, But Mine Region Yet to Benefit UN Integrated Regional Information Networks June 28th, 2006 Record world copper prices should brighten hopes of recovery in Zambia's Copperbelt region after a decade of mine closures and job losses. |
| KATRINA: Needing Builders, Gulf City Looks to China by Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times June 27th, 2006 Frustration over the pace of rebuilding is rampant along the Mississippi Gulf Coast some 10 months after Hurricane Katrina. But in the small city of D'Iberville, leaders are hoping to jump-start construction with an unorthodox solution: importing hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of Chinese laborers to build shopping malls, condominiums and casinos. |
| US: Jesse Jackson Calls for Boycott of BP by Stephen Foley, The Independent (UK) June 25th, 2006 The Reverend Jesse Jackson, the veteran civil rights leader, has called on African Americans to boycott BP over its record on equality. |
| UK: Wal-Mart Faces Asda Workers' Strike by Jonathan Birchall and Andrew Taylor, The Financial Times June 22nd, 2006 Wal-Mart is facing the threat of a potentially damaging strike at Asda, the UK subsidiary that accounts for about 40 per cent of its international sales, in a dispute with one of the country's largest unions over bargaining rights. |
| US: Suit Claims Hospitals Fixed Nurses' Pay by Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times June 21st, 2006 Nurses filed class-action lawsuits yesterday against hospitals in Chicago, Memphis, San Antonio and Albany, asserting that the hospitals had violated federal antitrust laws by conspiring to hold down nurses' wages. |
| US: WesternGeco Agrees to $19.6 Million Fraud Fine by Lynn J. Cook, The Houston Chronicle June 16th, 2006 A Houston-based subsidiary of Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield services company, has agreed to pay $19.6 million in penalties for "knowingly submitting fraudulent visa applications" for foreign workers assigned to vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a statement from the U.S. Dept. of Justice. |
| GERMANY: Protests to Hit GM Plants in Germany, Spain Reuters June 16th, 2006 Workers angered by General Motors' (GM.N) plan to shut down an assembly plant in Portugal will stage protests starting next week at GM factories in Germany and Spain, a labor source told Reuters on Friday. |
| CHINA: iPod 'slave' claims investigated BBC June 16th, 2006 Apple is investigating a newspaper report that staff in some of its Chinese iPod factories work long hours for low pay and in "slave" conditions. |
| US: U.S. Sues Goodyear The Chicago Tribune June 15th, 2006 The Labor Department has sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., alleging hiring discrimination against hundreds of women who sought jobs at one of its plants in Virginia in the late 1990s. |
| US: Wal-Mart Could Hike Pay and Keep Prices Low: Study by Emily Kaiser, Reuters June 15th, 2006 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N) could significantly increase employee wages and benefits without raising prices, and still earn a healthy -- albeit smaller -- profit, research released on Thursday concluded. |
| UK: Shell 'Ignored Accident Warning' BBC News June 14th, 2006 Oil giant Shell has been accused of operating platforms in the North Sea at dangerously high risk levels. |
| US: Wal-Mart Likes Chicago, But Not City's Wage Plan by Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune June 13th, 2006 A Wal-Mart official said Monday that his firm could be interested in building "10 or 20" stores on city sites during the next five years, but he added that passage of a minimum wage measure by Chicago's City Council could have a chilling effect on the company's plans. |
| GERMANY: Clash with Unions Looms at VW by David Gow, Guardian Unlimited (UK) June 13th, 2006 Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, is heading for a showdown with its 100,000-strong German workforce after trade unions rejected company proposals to increase the working week to 35 hours without extra pay late on Monday. |
| CONGO: Congo's Child Miner Shame by Orla Guerin, BBC News June 12th, 2006 To commemorate World Day Against Child Labour, BBC News has spent a day with child miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who work for about one dollar per day. At Ruashi mine, in the Eastern province of Katanga, almost 800 children dig for copper and cobalt. |
| US: Fendi sues Wal-Mart over fake handbags Reuters June 11th, 2006 Italian fashion group Fendi S.R.L. sued Wal-Mart Stores in U.S. federal court on Friday, accusing the world's largest retailer of selling counterfeit handbags and passing them off as genuine at its Sam's Club warehouse stores. |
| US: BP's Browne may face Texas deaths probe by Tim Webb and Clayton Hirst, The Independent (UK) June 11th, 2006 Lord Browne, the chief executive of BP, is facing a possible grilling by the US federal safety watchdog over last year's explosion at the oil giant's Texas refinery, which killed 15 people. |
| KATRINA: Study: Immigrant workers endure hazardous conditions, abuse post-Katrina
by Rukmini Callimachi, Associated Press June 7th, 2006 Immigrant workers rebuilding New Orleans are especially vulnerable to exploitation, according to a study released Tuesday by professors at Tulane University and the University of California at Berkeley. |
| US: Thrift Faces Labor-Law Suit Associated Press June 7th, 2006 Two law firms representing former employees of Washington Mutual Inc. in California, New York and Illinois have sued the Seattle-based thrift, accusing the company of violating labor laws by failing to pay overtime and the federal minimum wage. |
| US: Biggest pension fund boycotts Wal-Mart by Terry Macalister, The Guardian June 7th, 2006 Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer and owner of the Asda supermarket chain, is being boycotted by the world's largest pension fund for alleged "serious and systematic" abuses of human and employment rights. |
| US: Verizon Bias Suit Deal Sets Record by Amy Joyce, Washington Post June 6th, 2006 Verizon Communications Inc. will pay almost $49 million to 12,326 current and former female employees as part of a landmark class-action lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination. |
| UK: For England's Army of Migrant Workers, It's Not All Strawberries and Cream by John Vidal, The Guardian June 5th, 2006 When Val Salisbury walked down her Herefordshire lane and into a giant plastic polytunnel where dozens of Ukrainians, Lithuanians and other east Europeans were picking strawberries, the workers were surprised. She was, after all, a 69-year-old Englishwoman using a walking frame. But when she started pulling up the plants all around her and throwing them to the ground, they understood why she was there. |
| US: Polo Ralph Lauren Accused of Labor Violations Bay City News Service May 30th, 2006 Four former employees of Polo Ralph Lauren filed a lawsuit today in San Francisco Superior Court against the Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation, alleging that the company repeatedly violated the rights of its employees, according to Patrick Kitchin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. |
| WORLD: The Scariest Predators in the Corporate Jungle by Thalif Deen, Inter-Press Service May 23rd, 2006 The world's oil, gas and mining industries account for nearly two-thirds of all violations of human rights, environmental laws and international labour standards, according to a soon-to-be-released United Nations study. |
| US: Ad Calls for Wal-Mart to Change Principles Associated Press May 23rd, 2006 One of Wal-Mart's most vocal union-funded critics took out a full-page ad in The New York Times on Tuesday calling on the company to live up to the ''moral responsibilities'' of being the world's largest private employer by improving wages and health insurance. |
| US: Senate Considers Bill on Mine Safety by John Holusha, The New York Times May 16th, 2006 Legislation that would increase the supplies of oxygen available to miners trapped by explosions, rock falls or other disasters, among other measures, was introduced in the Senate today by two senators from both parties. |
| US: Auto Union Leaders Are Authorized to Call a Strike by Jeremy W. Peters, The New York Times May 16th, 2006 Members of the United Automobile Workers union have voted to give their leaders the ultimate bargaining chip: the authorization to call a strike against Delphi, the auto parts supplier. |
| JORDAN: An Ugly Side of Free Trade - Sweatshops by Steven Greenhouse and Michael Barbaro, The New York Times May 3rd, 2006 Workers from Bangladesh said they paid $1,000 to $3,000 to work in Jordan, but when they arrived, their passports were confiscated, restricting their ability to leave and tying them to jobs that often pay far less than promised and far less than the country's minimum wage. |
| US: Return passports to Iraq workers United Press International April 24th, 2006 The U.S. military in Iraq has demanded that the passports of all employees of contractors and subcontractors serving the military in Iraq be returned to them by May 1. |
| US: The Case Against Coke by Michaeil Blanding, The Nation April 14th, 2006 The Coca-Cola Company will hold its stockholders' meeting, an annual exercise designed to boost the confidence of investors. If the meeting is anything like last year's, however, it may do the opposite. |
| US: The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order by Matt Richtel, The New York Times April 11th, 2006 Orders from some fast food chains are now being taken at call centers, sometimes hundreds of miles away from the actual restaurant. |
| US: AFL-CIO puts big CEO pensions under scope by Edward Iwata, USA Today April 7th, 2006 Amid growing concern over a wave of cutbacks in corporate pension plans for employees, the CEOs of top U.S. companies would receive "golden pensions" that range from $2 million to $6.5 million a year, according to a study by the AFL-CIO union federation. |
| ARGENTINA: Bolivian Community Divided Over Sweatshops by Marcela Valente, Inter Press News Service April 6th, 2006 The Buenos Aires city government's new offensive against slave labour has resulted in the closure of 30 clandestine textile sweatshops in the Argentine capital. But it has also caused divisions in the Bolivian immigrant community: some denounce the exploitative labour conditions, while others desperately want to keep their jobs, however precarious. |
| PHILIPPINES: Missing, despising Marcopper by Gerald Gene R. Querubin, Philippine Daily Inquirer April 6th, 2006 WHEN Marinduque Copper Mining Corp. (Marcopper) stopped its operation in 1997, the municipality of Santa Cruz in Marinduque came to a standstill. Almost 2,500 employees were left jobless, businesses suffered from low sales; some even had to close shop. |
| US: Union says Wal-Mart opposed better US port security by Peter Szekely, Reuters April 5th, 2006 The largest U.S. labor federation accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday of using its lobbying muscle to oppose port safety measures because they would reduce profits. |
| US: Farmers not lovin' tomato-picking pay
Associated Press April 1st, 2006 The coalition is urging consumers to pressure Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's Corp. to support a campaign to boost wages for more than 3,000 Florida pickers. They're proposing a penny per pound increase in pay. |
| US: Delphi Asks Bankruptcy Court to Void Union Deals by Michelle Maynard, The New York Times March 31st, 2006 Delphi, the nation's biggest auto-parts maker, followed through on a months-old threat today and asked a bankruptcy court judge for permission to throw out its labor agreements and impose sharply lower wages and benefits. |
| US: G.M. to Freeze Pension Plan for Salaried Workers by Michelle Maynard, The New York Times March 7th, 2006 General Motors announced significant changes today to its retirement benefits covering 42,000 salaried workers in the United States. |
| MEXICO: Mexican strikes cripple mines, mills and refineries by Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters March 2nd, 2006 Tens of thousands of Mexican miners and metal workers joined a nationwide strike on Wednesday in two separate disputes that crippled output at the country's biggest mines, metals refineries and steel mills. |
| US: Wal-Mart critics put workers in spotlight over health care by Marcus Kabel, Associated Press February 28th, 2006 One of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s most vociferous critics launched a campaign Tuesday with 17 current and former Wal-Mart workers speaking out against health insurance coverage they claim is too expensive, leaving them uninsured or on taxpayer funded programs. |
| US: Chromium Evidence Buried, Report Says by Rick Weiss, The Washington Post February 24th, 2006 Scientists working for the chromium industry withheld data about the metal's health risks while the industry campaigned to block strict new limits on the cancer-causing chemical, according to a scientific journal report published yesterday. |
| US: Company Town Relies on G.M. Long After Plants Have Closed by Jeremy W. Peters and Micheline Maynard, The New York Times February 20th, 2006 General Motors once had so many plants here that it had to stagger their schedules so that the streets would not be clogged with traffic when the workday ended. At the city's peak, 35 years ago, one of every three people in Anderson worked for G.M. |
| US: Outsourcing Is Climbing Skills Ladder by Steve Lohr, The New York Times February 16th, 2006 The globalization of work tends to start from the bottom up. The first jobs to be moved abroad are typically simple assembly tasks, followed by manufacturing, and later, skilled work like computer programming. At the end of this progression is the work done by scientists and engineers in research and development laboratories. |
| US: Pay Fight in Tech's Trenches
by Elissa Silverman, The Washington Post February 15th, 2006 The situation casts light on the low-tech backbone of a high-tech project -- the casual laborers who are rounded up by subcontractors, sometimes bused across state borders to job sites and set to work digging ditches. Predominantly Hispanic, they work with few guarantees and often no benefits, and they typically are hesitant to come forward with problems, according to lawyers and advocacy groups. |
| US: Sales Brisk for "Wal-Mart" Docu As Accusations Fly
Reuters February 15th, 2006 Berlin's European Film Market became the backdrop for yet another verbal battle between Wal-Mart and its filmmaker nemesis Robert Greenwald on Tuesday. The Greenwald-directed film "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" made for hot sales but heated words at the market. |
| INDIA: Strike disrupts Indian airports
BBC News February 2nd, 2006 Workers picketed Delhi and Mumbai airports amid tight security. Flights operated near to normal, officials say. |
| US: New York City urges probe into Coca-Cola in Colombia Agence France-Presse January 27th, 2006 "The New York City pension funds are concerned about the allegations of alleged human rights abuses at Coca-Cola's Colombian affiliate," city Comptroller William Thompson said in asking for a shareholder resolution on the matter. |
| SWITZERLAND: "Corporate villains" named and shamed Swiss Info January 25th, 2006 The Walt Disney Company, the Chevron Corporation and Citigroup have been awarded booby prizes by Swiss non-governmental organisations (NGOs). |
| FRANCE: Nike Unit Is Placed Under Investigation Associated Press January 17th, 2006 Nike Inc.'s French unit has been placed under judicial investigation as part of a fraud probe linked to its sponsorship of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club, a judicial official said Tuesday. |
| US: Suit Alleging Wal-Mart Pressured Workers Into Working Through Breaks Granted Class-Action Status Bloomberg News January 13th, 2006 A Pennsylvania judge granted class-action status yesterday to a lawsuit contending that Wal-Mart employees had been pressed to work through breaks and after hours. |
| US: Maryland Sets a Health Cost for Wal-Mart by Michael Barbaro, The New York Times January 13th, 2006 The Maryland legislature passed a law Thursday that would require Wal-Mart Stores to increase spending on employee health insurance, a measure that is expected to be a model for other states. |
| US: For One Clerk, Fight for Wal-Mart Bill Is Personal by Mary Otto, Washington Post January 12th, 2006 The debate over the Fair Share Health Care Fund Act, commonly known as the Wal-Mart bill, has dominated politics in the run-up to the General Assembly, with the retailer arguing that Democrats have unfairly singled out one company and union leaders arguing that workers deserve better treatment. |
| US: EEOC Sues Oppenheimer For Sex Discrimination
by Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires January 12th, 2006 The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday that it has filed a sex-discrimination lawsuit against Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. in federal court in Manhattan, alleging discriminatory behavior in its hiring practices. |
| US: Doomed Miners Tried to Escape; Mine's Safety Record Examined by Gardiner Harris, The New York Times January 11th, 2006 Also yesterday, federal mine officials made public records of inspections done at the Sago Mine last year that concluded that mine supervisors had repeatedly failed to uncover dangerous conditions before starting a day's production. |
| US: Fines in mining deaths cut back by Thomas Frank, USA Today January 10th, 2006 The nation's coal mines have been required to pay only a fraction of the federal fines imposed after deadly accidents since 1999, a USA TODAY analysis shows. |
| US: Labor Objects to Executive Bonuses at American Associated Press January 9th, 2006 "It is absolute insanity to pay out seven-figure bonuses at a time when the company is suffering nine-figure losses, mired in eleven-figure debt, and seeking further help from its employees to survive for the long term." |
| US: Moving Mountains by Erik Reece, Orion Magazine January 9th, 2006 It is the people of Appalachia who pay the highest price for the rest of the country's cheap energy—through contaminated water, flooding, cracked foundations and wells, bronchial problems related to breathing coal dust, and roads that have been torn up and turned deadly by speeding coal trucks. |
| GERMANY: Dresdner Faces Discrimination Suit
by Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires January 9th, 2006 |
| ANALYSIS: Was Wal-Mart's Anti-Union Image Used as a Shield? by Michael Barbaro, The New York Times January 9th, 2006 The "union project" was a secret scheme, approved by senior Wal-Mart executives, to pay union members for information about which stores they planned to organize. |
| US: Wal-Mart in Their Sights, States Press for Health Benefits by Michael Barbaro, The New York Times January 5th, 2006 |
| US: General Electric workers sue Monsanto over PCBs by Carey Gillam, Reuters January 4th, 2006 More than 500 General Electric Co. employees have sued Monsanto Co. along with two related companies, claiming they were exposed to toxic chemicals manufactured for decades by Monsanto, the company said Wednesday. |
| JAPAN: An insider's dark view of Toyota by Matt Rusling, Christian Science Monitor January 2nd, 2006 In 1996, Darius Mehri, a wide-eyed young American engineer, went to Japan to work for Toyota's production system. What he found was an abusive environment where the company controlled every movement - inside and outside work - of its employees. |
| US: Jury Awards $207 Million To Wal-Mart Workers Associated Press December 22nd, 2005 A California jury on Thursday awarded $207 million to thousands of employees at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who claimed they were illegally denied lunch breaks. |
| ARGENTINA: The War for Gold in Catamarca by Darío Aranda, Página 12 Newspaper December 18th, 2005 Water that is undrinkable. Air that is better left unbreathed. A community impoverished, living above mountains of gold. These are some of the contradictions of Andalgalá, a town of 17,000 inhabitants in Catamarca, Argentina, 240 kilometres from the provincial capital, home for ten years now to the largest gold and copper mine in the country, and one of the largest in the world. |
| US: Ralphs Indicted for Grocery Strike Labor Violations by James F. Peltz, Los Angeles Times December 15th, 2005 |
| US: Best Buy Sued for Bias by Jason Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle December 10th, 2005 Six current and former employees of Best Buy filed a race- and sex-discrimination lawsuit Thursday against the consumer electronics chain in federal court in San Francisco, accusing it of denying better-paying sales and managerial jobs to African Americans, Latinos and women in favor of white men. |
| LIBERIA: Firestone Sued Over "Slave" Plantation by Haider Rizvi, OneWorld.net December 8th, 2005 Firestone, a multinational rubber manufacturing giant known for its automobile tires, has come under fire from human rights and environmental groups for its alleged use of child labor and slave-like working conditions at a plantation in Liberia. |
| INDIA: Globalisation Works, Unequally by Raji Lakshmi, Inter Press News Service (IPS) December 3rd, 2005 Today, thanks to a slew of questionable concessions offered by the local government to global investors, Gurgaon is on the addresses of some the world's best-known names in garments, automobiles, and information technology (IT). |
| BURMA: Total to pay Burmese compensation BBC November 29th, 2005 Oil giant Total is to compensate Burmese villagers who claimed they were used as forced labour during the building of a major gas pipeline. |
| INDIA: Outsourcing Outrage by Mike McPhate, The San Francisco Chronicle November 17th, 2005 Customer-support call-centers based in India are suffering a barage of abuse - often racist - from Western callers angry about jobs moving overseas. |
| SOUTH AFRICA: Mining Giants Seek Their Fortune Abroad by Linus Atarah, Inter Press Service November 11th, 2005 A number of South African mining companies, long a pillar of the country's economy, are now primed for take-off to countries with lower mining standards and labour regulations. |
| US: Immigrants Often Unpaid for Katrina Work
by Justin Pritchard, Associated Press November 5th, 2005 A pattern is emerging as the cleanup of Mississippi's Gulf Coast morphs into its multibillion-dollar reconstruction: Come payday, untold numbers of Hispanic immigrant laborers are being stiffed. |
| TURKEY: Turkish Coke Bottler Under Fire by Caroline Wilbert, Atlanta Journal-Constitution November 3rd, 2005 United Students against Sweatshops held a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, alleging that within the last several months, employees of a Coke bottler in Turkey were fired for joining a union. These workers protested and were allegedly beaten by police at the behest of Coke. |
| WORLD: Social audits 'are failing to detect factory abuses' by Alison Maitland, The Financial Times November 2nd, 2005 Social audits of clothing factories in developing countries are failing to detect excessive and forced overtime, abusive treatment of workers and violations of freedom of association, says a report by the Clean Clothes Campaign, a coalition of trade unions and pressure groups, to be published today. |
| AFRICA: The Dark Side of Chocolate by Kate McMahon, Alternet, Wiretap October 28th, 2005 The truth behind the chocolate is anything but sweet. On the Ivory Coast of Africa, the origin of nearly half of the world's cocoa, hundreds of thousands of children work or are enslaved on cocoa farms. With poverty running rampant and average cocoa revenues ranging from $30-$108 per household member per year, producers have no choice but to utilize child labor for dangerous farming tasks. Some children, seeking to help their poor families, even end up as slaves on cocoa farms far from home. Slavery drags on and we are paying the slaveholder's wages. |
| US: Desperation Deal at GM by Robert Kuttner, The Boston Globe October 22nd, 2005 The United Autoworkers union has agreed to save General Motors over a billion dollars a year in health insurance costs. This is a disguised pay-cut, since workers will now pay more out of pocket for their healthcare. |
| CANADA: Tyson plans to restart striking beef plant by Ian Cobain and David Leigh, Reuters October 17th, 2005 Top U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. said it planned to reopen its massive Canadian plant in Brooks, Alberta on Monday after several tense incidents on a strike picket line last week. |
| US: Judge OKs $97 million payout for Microsoft "permatemps" by Brier Dudley, The Seattle Times October 1st, 2005 After years of delays, false hopes and procedural haggling, the contract workers who sued Microsoft in 1992 for denying them benefits are finally getting paid this month. |
| US: US Companies Lag in Responsibility, Accountability by Abid Aslam, OneWorld.net September 25th, 2005 U.S. companies remain less accountable than European and Asian ones despite recent years' damaging revelations of management chicanery involving finances, labor relations, environmental performance, and consumer protection, a global survey said Friday. |
| US: Wal-Mart Accused of Denying Workers' Rights by Michael Barbaro, The Washington Post September 14th, 2005 An American labor rights group filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., alleging that suppliers in five countries violated workers' rights, including denying a minimum wage, requiring overtime and punishing union activity. |
| US: Wal-Mart Workers Are Finding a Voice Without a Union by Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times September 3rd, 2005 Having failed to unionize any Wal-Marts, American labor unions have helped form a new and unusual type of workers' association to press Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to improve its wages and working conditions. |
| INDIA: Japanese Investors Learn Indian Labour Laws the Hard Way by Ranjit Devraj, Inter Press Service August 3rd, 2005 Japanese investors in India took a few hard lessons in India's tough labour laws when the automobile giant Honda Motors tamely resumed production at its plant outside the national capital this week, ending three months of labour disputes, including pitched battles between police and agitated workers. |
| CHINA: At Nike Plant, no Sweatshop, Plenty of Sweat
by Richard Read, The Oregonian June 27th, 2005 After Nike's recent disclosure of the names and locations of 705 independent contract factories in its network, a plant visit reveals significant improvements since the 1990s. |
| CHINA: Nation Amends Law to Ban Sexual Harassment China View June 26th, 2005 China has started to try banning sexual harassment through legislation, after surveys found that Chinese professional women were widely suffering sexual harassment. |
| US: Wal-Mart Is Focal Point Of Democrats' Health Bill by By Amy Joyce, Washington Post June 23rd, 2005 Several congressional Democrats introduced a bill that would force states to report the names of companies that have 50 or more employees who receive government-funded health care, an effort to pressure Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in particular to improve employee health coverage. |
| US: Reality Show Writers Want to Unionize by Richard Verrier, Orlando Sentinel June 22nd, 2005 The guild representing Hollywood writers has disclosed that more than 75 percent of the scribes on TV reality shows have signed cards asking to be represented by the union. |
| Rules On Corporate Ethics Could Help, Not Hinder, Multinationals
by Kenneth Roth, Financial Times June 22nd, 2005 Some western companies have begun to recognize it might be in their interest to operate under enforceable standards that apply to all their competitors, rather than under voluntary ones that, for all practical purposes, apply only to prominent companies. |
| US: Coke to Examine Overseas Labor Practices Associated Press June 20th, 2005 The Coca-Cola Co. says it is willing to examine its labor and business practices in India and Colombia to keep $1.3 million worth of contracts with the University of Michigan. |
| WORLD: Globalization: It's Not Just Wages
by Louis Uchitelle, New York Times June 17th, 2005 Globalization is often viewed as a rootless process of constantly moving jobs to low-wage countries. But the issue is more complex, as illustrated by Whirlpool's worldwide operations. What attracts Mr. Fettig and other chief executives is a relatively new form of globalization that emphasizes first-rate centers of production and design in various countries - including the United States. |
| WORLD: A Responsible Balancing Act Financial Times June 1st, 2005 Public expectations of companies are rising everywhere - but consumers' top concerns vary substantially between countries and regions, according to a new study by GlobeScan, an international opinion research company. |
| FINLAND: Strike Shuts Paper Mills BBC May 31st, 2005 Finns are hoarding toilet rolls as a strike in the paper industry - already in its third week - threatens to go on until the end of June. |
| US: BP Admits Workers Were Not Root Cause of Blast
by Anne Belli, Houston Chronicle May 31st, 2005 Union officials have said they expressed concerns about the location of the trailer as well as BP's use of the vent stack as opposed to a flare system. Had a flare been in place, the excess liquid and vapors likely would have been burned off and the accident may have been prevented. |
| WORLD: Charity Wristbands Made in 'Sweatshop' Factories by Lesley Richardson, The Scotsman May 29th, 2005 Wristbands made to raise awareness of the Make Poverty History campaign have been produced in Chinese factories which violated ethical standards, it emerged today. |
| US: Teamsters Picket L.A. Coke Plants by Nancy Cleeland and Erica Williams, LA Times May 24th, 2005 Teamster drivers, packers and warehouse workers walked picket lines at all seven Coca- Cola Enterprises Inc. bottling plants in the L.A. area in a dispute over wages and rising health insurance costs. |
| US: New Report on CEO Earnings by John Burton and Christian Weller, Center for American Progress May 23rd, 2005 A report form the Center for American Progress details how Corporate CEOs have enjoyed record levels of compensation and corporations have seen record profits, as more and more middle-class Americans are experiencing stagnant wages and vanishing benefits. |
| US: Teflon Target by Chris Serres, Star Tribune May 22nd, 2005 For years, Target has cultivated an image of itself as the "anti-Wal-Mart," a retailer that refuses to sacrifice workplace standards in the pursuit of higher sales and stock prices. But now, after a decade of meteoric growth at both Target and Wal-Mart, labor groups say the two retailers are no longer very different in the way they treat their workers. |
| US: Emboldened by Victory, Farmworkers Taking on Fast Food Industry
by Mike Schneider , Associated Press May 21st, 2005 "It's not just a problem of the farmworkers in Immokalee. It's not just a problem for immigrant workers in Florida," say representatives of Coalition of Immokalee Workers, "The problems in the agriculture industry are problems for all of American society." |
| US: Cleaning Up The Laundry Industry
by Mary Beth Maxwell, TomPaine.com May 17th, 2005 Earlier this month, hundreds of hospitals and the patients they serve came close to working without clean linens. A strike was threatened and postponed but still looms because of ongoing contract negotiations and labor disputes between the nation’s largest hospital laundry supplier, Angelica Textile Services, and its employees |
| CHINA: Corporate Social Responsibility China View May 13th, 2005 Today, China is probably more integrated into the international community than at any point in its history, and the competitive economic landscape is changing rapidly. For multinational companies that take social and environmental responsibilities seriously, unprecedented opportunities abound for them to turn the corporate social responsibility (CSR) fad into a real opportunity for social change. |
| US: Memphis '68, Revisited by Si Kahn, AlterNet May 6th, 2005 With help from some unlikely places, Corrections Corporation of America is hoping to build the largest for-profit private prison in the United States. |
| US: At Wal-Mart, Choosing Sides Over $9.68 an Hour
by By Steven Greenhouse , New York Times May 4th, 2005 |
| CANADA: Closure of First Unionized Wal-Mart Sends Signal by Paul Weinberg, IPS May 1st, 2005 Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, may be violating international and Canadian laws by using covert strategies to undermine a unionising drive at its Canadian stores, say labour experts and union activists. |
| MALAYSIA: Workers to March Against Privatization by Anil Netto, IPS April 29th, 2005 Malaysia's workers will mark International Labor Day on May 1 with a strong protest against globalisation, which they feel is gradually eroding away their rights and making poor Malaysians poorer. |
| US: Union Zeroes in on Target by Chris Serres, Star Tribune March 29th, 2005 An international labor union that has launched organizing drives at Wal-Mart is now taking aim at Target Corp. |
| EL SALVADOR: Fraying of the Textile Industry by Ginger Thompson, New York Times March 25th, 2005 Employment in El Salvador's garment industry declined in 2004 for the first time in a decade. Thousands more jobs will be lost this year, threatening to drive up El Salvador's largest export to the United States: its people. |
| US: Taco Bell, farm workers reach agreement by Brett Barrouguere, Associated Press March 8th, 2005 Taco Bell will pay an extra penny for each pound of tomatoes it buys under an agreement with a group of farm workers that had been protesting the fast food chain for three years. |
| INDIA: Medical Companies Joining Offshore Trend, Too by Andrew Pollack, The New York Times February 24th, 2005 The relentless shifting of employment to countries like India and China that has occurred in manufacturing, back-office work and computer programming is now spreading to a crown jewel of corporate America: the medical and drug industries. |
| CAMBODIA: Police Open Fire to End Factory Protest
by Ek Madra, Reuters February 22nd, 2005 Cambodian riot police fired assault rifles and used electric batons on Tuesday to break up a protest by 1,300 workers demanding redundancy payment from a garment factory that shut down in January. |
| WORLD: The Rise of the Micro-Multinationals by By Jim Hopkins, USA Today February 11th, 2005 Nearly 40% of start-ups in a new USA TODAY study employ engineers, marketers, analysts and others in jobs created in India and other nations. The study found that many U.S. start-ups, speeding the pace of globalization, now bypass the USA for nations where customers and cheap labor are plentiful. |
| AFRICA: A New Outsourcing Frontier by Marc Lacey, New York Times February 2nd, 2005 After looking on for years as Asia cashed in on the outsourcing boom, Africa is now aggressively seeking its piece of the action. |
| FINLAND: Nokia Criticized For Unfair Treatment of Employees by Juhani Artto, OneWorld.net January 18th, 2005 Shopstewards criticize Nokia of unfair treatment of employees. |
| US: Towns Hand Out Tax Breaks, Then Cry Foul as Jobs Leave by Timothy Egan, New York Times October 20th, 2004 After a decade of tax breaks and union concessions to keep the company in a place that has been making refrigerators for more than 50 years, Maytag closed its factory last month, terminating 1,600 jobs. Maytag may be done with Galesburg, but Galesburg is not done with Maytag. |
| NIGERIA: Fuel Price Strike Suspended by Staff Writers, afrol News October 14th, 2004 Nigeria's trade union now gives the government two weeks to reduce fuel prices while temporarily calling off the nation-wide strike. Negotiations between trade union leaders and the federal government started today, after trade unions during four days have demonstrated their power to cause an almost complete stand-still throughout the country. |
| INDIA: Multinational Corporations Reap Profits from Child Labor in India's Cottonseed Farms by Suhasini, One World South Asia A new report says an estimated 12,375 children continue to work under terrible conditions on cottonseed farms in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh which supply their produce to multinational corporations (MNCs) like Bayer and Monsanto, in defiance of last year's promises to eradicate child labor. |
| AUSTRALIA: Unions Take Hardie Asbestos Protest to U.S. by Barbara Adam, Bloomberg September 15th, 2004 Australian labor unions will take their protest over James Hardie Industries NV's funding shortfall for asbestos victims to the U.S. today, seeking to extend their boycott of the company's building products to its largest market. |
| GREECE: Olympic Sized Horror in Athens by Dave Zirin, CommonDreams.org August 16th, 2004 |
| US: Rewriting Coal Policy; Friends in the White House Come to Coal's Aid by Christopher Drew and Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Claire Hoffman, The New York Times August 9th, 2004 Bush administration policies have abandoned a series of Clinton-era safety proposals favored by coal miners while embracing others favored by mine owners. |
| US: Implored to 'Offshore' More
by Paul Blustein, Washington Post July 2nd, 2004 A report by an influential consulting firm is exhorting U.S. companies to speed up "offshoring" operations to China and India, including high-powered functions such as research and development. |
| IRAQ: Many Foreign Laborers Receive Inferior Pay, Food and Shelter by Ariana Eunjung Cha, The Washington Post July 1st, 2004 The war in Iraq has been a windfall for Kellogg Brown & Root Inc., the company that has a multibillion-dollar contract to provide support services for U.S. troops. Its profits have come thanks to the hard work of people like Dharmapalan Ajayakumar, who until last month served as a kitchen helper at a military base. |
| US: Union Plans Four-Day Strike Against SBC Associated Press May 19th, 2004 The union representing 102,000 employees of SBC Communications Inc. said Wednesday it would stage a four-day strike starting Friday because of a deadlock in contract negotiations with the nation's second biggest local phone company. |
| WORLD: Gap Reports Labor Violations At Factories by Jean Scheidnes, Reuters May 12th, 2004 |
| IRAQ: Indian Contract Workers in Iraq Complain of Exploitation by David Rohde, The New York Times May 7th, 2004 |
| US: Probe into Iraq trafficking claims by Elise Labott, CNN May 5th, 2004 The United States is investigating reports Indian nationals were victims of human trafficking to Iraq and mistreated while working there as contractors in U.S. military camps, the State Department has said. |
| WORLD: Shell Outsourcing by Mark Tran, Guardian (London) April 28th, 2004 Royal Dutch Shell, the embattled oil giant, said today it will cut up to 2,800 jobs as it relocates its global technology division. IT operations, now concentrated in the UK, the Netherlands and the US, are to be shifted to India or Malaysia, where Shell already employs about 1,000 people in a technology support centre. |
| LAUSD Adopts Anti-Sweatshop Code Los Angeles Times March 25th, 2004 The Los Angeles Unified School District has adopted one of the nation's most sweeping anti-sweatshop measures, requiring suppliers of everything from desks to scissors to disclose where and how those products were made and guarantee that workers making them earn a "non-poverty" wage. |
| Yo No Quiero Taco Bell: Farmworker Struggles and the Legacy of C�sar Chavez by Catherine Cunningham and Sean Sellers, CommonDreams.org March 21st, 2004 In Immokalee, Florida, the situation is dire. South Florida is the nation's leading producer of fresh tomatoes. Taco Bell is a major purchaser of Florida tomatoes. Their enormous purchasing power gives them a unique opportunity to intervene on behalf of farm workers who subsidize corporate profits with sweatshop tomatoes. |
| China: Workers Demand Wages, Security by Eva Cheng, Green Left Weekly March 3rd, 2004 Some 2000 workers and their retired counterparts from the Tieshu textile factory in Suizhou, Hubei province, staged an angry protest on February 8 denouncing the now-defunct plants management for cheating workers of savings and benefits. They also accuse management of corruption. |
| Farmworkers March for Living Wage Food First February 26th, 2004 Food First Joins the 2004 Taco Bell Truth Tour: March, Organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Demands Humane Working Conditions for Farmworkers |
| US: Remaking America in Wal-Mart's Image The Black Commentator February 19th, 2004 The only competition that exists among the corporate players at the commanding heights of the American economy is the race to determine who can squeeze the workers first and hardest. The Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons chains and their subsidiaries claim underdog status, as they grind $10 an hour workers into the dirt. The real problem the traditional grocery chains face is weak demand and an inability to raise prices in a deflationary environment not Wal-Mart pricing pressure. They eagerly follow Wal-Mart's model that there is no limit to how far they are willing to reduce labor costs. If there is a bottom, Wal-Mart will find it first, and the pack will eagerly follow. |
| IRAQ: Life More Difficult Now? by Pratap Chatterjee and Herbert Docena, Southern Exposure February 4th, 2004 Bechtel's projects are examined by freelance journalists. Locals complain of shoddy work, problems with schools, sewage, electricity, gas lines, and low wages. |
| India: The Dark Side of the Outsourcing Revolution by Naeem Mohaiemen, AlterNet January 25th, 2004 India is at the red-hot center of the Outsourcing Revolution. Thirty percent of all new Information Technology (IT) work for U.S. companies is now done abroad, mostly in India. Analysts forecast that by 2008 Indian IT services and back-office support will grow to a $57 billion a year industry with four million workers. |
| US: Nike on Trial by Jim Hightower, Alternet July 22nd, 2003 The world's largest maker of athletic shoes and clothing swooshed into the U.S. Supreme Court last year arrogantly asserting a corporate right to lie. At issue is a 1998 case brought by a lone consumer activist named Marc Kasky. He claimed in California state courts that Nike had engaged in false advertising when it launched a PR campaign to fight off the charges that it was a global abuser of sweatshop labor. |
| US: Up Against Wal-Mart by Karen Olsson, Mother Jones Magazine April 28th, 2003 At the world's largest and most profitable retailer, low wages, unpaid overtime, and union busting are a way of life. Now Wal-Mart workers are fighting back. |
| US: Bush Top Gun vs. S.F. Activist by Zachary Coile, San Francisco Chronicle April 24th, 2003 WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer urged the high court Wednesday to toss out a San Francisco consumer activist's suit against Nike Inc. because it could discourage corporations from defending themselves in public against their critics. |
| South Africa: Trade Union Congress Losing Members by Anthony Stoppard, Inter Press Service April 23rd, 2003 The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the largest labor federation in the country, says it is losing members because of high unemployment and an internal financial crisis |
| IRAQ: For Bangladeshis, War's End Means Return to Jobs by Qurratul Ain Tahmina, Inter Press Service April 8th, 2003 Ninety percent of the yearly average of documented 200,000 migrant workers from mainly Muslim Bangladesh is placed in Middle Eastern countries. Remittance from migrant workers in the Middle East comes to about one-fifth of Bangladesh's yearly import payments. Last year Bangladesh got $2.5 billion in remittances, 75 percent of it from workers in the Middle East. |
| Socially Conscious Investors File Amicus Brief with Supreme Court in Nike v. Kasky Domini Social Investments April 7th, 2003 Domini Social Investments LLC today announced that it has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that supports San Francisco activist Marc Kasky in his effort to hold Nike accountable for its statements concerning the company's use of sweatshop labor. |
| US: Family Farm Organizations Endorse Taco Bell boycott Coalition of Imokalee Workers March 19th, 2003 In what is a natural -- but all too rare -- partnership, farmworkers and family farmers have joined forces in the battle against the corporate domination and consolidation of agriculture, as several family farm organizations have endorsed the Taco Bell boycott! |
| BRAZIL: Weakened Trade Unions Look to Lula for Help by Mario Osava, Inter Press Service March 12th, 2003 Trade unions proliferated in Brazil from 1991 to 2001, but their power did not keep in step, says a report that is fuelling debate now that the nation's president is a man was a unionist himself, former metalworker Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. |
| USA: Levis is Lone Hold Out in Saipan Suit by Victor Narro, Sweatshop Watch March 3rd, 2003 This month, an important event is taking place that should change the lives of workers on Saipan, an island in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and impact the way we address issues of sweatshop throughout the world. |
| MEXICO: Toll of Murdered Young Women Tops 300 by Diego Cevallos, IPS February 20th, 2003 Three more young women were added this week to the list of over 300 like them who since 1993 have been murdered and mutilated in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. |
| EL SALVADOR: World Trade Body Ignores Union Appeals Over Treatment of Workers by Marty Logan, OneWorld US February 6th, 2003 The World Trade Organization praised El Salvador Wednesday for taking steps to open up its economy, but ignored a damning report from a global grouping of trade unions that accuses the country of dismissing workers' rights, particularly in export processing zones (EPZs), known locally as 'maquilas.' |
| US: Shooting the Messinger -- Report on Layoffs Killed by David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle January 3rd, 2003 The Bush administration, under fire for its handling of the economy, has quietly killed off a Labor Department program that tracked mass layoffs by U.S. companies. |
| WORLD: Labor Dispute at the WTO by Andrew Casey, Labour News Network November 21st, 2002 Staff employed by the World Trade Organisation have begun an industrial campaign against their bosses over a salary dispute. WTO staff met last week and unanimously decided that the Staff Council should formulate a strong action plan which would steadily escalate. |
| US: Morgan Stanley in Hot Water After Telling Clients to Boycott Union Firms by Charlotte Denny, Guardian/UK November 21st, 2002 One of America's leading investment banks, Morgan Stanley, has outraged US unions by telling clients to pull their money out of heavily unionized industries. |
| ARGENTINA: Workers Take Factories into Their Own Hands by Pablo Waisberg, Latin America Press November 21st, 2002 Last December, overwhelmed by debt and the countrys economic chaos, the Brukman brothers left their high-end suit factory in Buenos Aires and never returned. They also left more than 100 employees awaiting back pay. |
| BRAZIL: Debt Takes Precedence Over War on Child Labor by Ricardo de Bittencourt, InterPress Service November 20th, 2002 Child labor has not yet been eradicated in Brazil due to cutbacks in social spending aimed at ensuring payments on the foreign debt, Social Watch, an international network linking non-governmental organisations from 60 countries, said Wednesday. |
| WORLD: Law to Protect Migrant Workers Short One Vote by Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service October 22nd, 2002 A United Nations convention aimed at protecting the rights of migrant workers worldwide needs to be ratified by only one more country before it becomes international law. |