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After the catastrophic Rana Plaza garment factory building collapse that resulted in 1,129 dead and 1,500 injured Bangladeshi workers, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), held a hearing to investigate “ Labor Issues in Bangladesh .” I testified for the AFL-CIO at the hearing.
Managers at a Finnish-owned maquiladora located in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, producing wire harnesses for the North American auto industry, have obstructed workers’ right to freely join a union and sexually harassed female employees, according to a report released today by Worker Rights Consortium , an independent organization that monitors labor rights abuses around the world.
Over the past few weeks, Turkey has been rocked by unrest. The protests were sparked by peaceful resistance to the destruction of Istanbul’s Gezi Park in Taksim Square, the only green public place in central Istanbul, which was to be turned into a shopping mall and historical recreation of Ottoman Artillery Barracks.
A harsh response from the state, characterized by extreme police brutality, has ensued in response to what have become the largest demonstrations the country has seen for decades. Protests have now spread to 77 cities in Turkey.
Workers this week are marking the second anniversary of the historic passage of a global standard covering the rights of domestic workers. The International Labor Organization's (ILO's) Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189) covers written employment contracts, protection from harassment, abuse and violence, hours of work, job safety and other workplace safeguards.
Celeste Drake, trade policy specialist for the AFL-CIO, is testifying on labor rights abuses in Bangladesh this morning, during a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing presided over by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).
Following the tragic building collapse that killed more than 1,300 Bangladeshi garment workers and recent fires that have claimed the lives of more than 400 Bangladeshi clothing workers , more than 40 clothing retailers have signed on to the Accord on Building and Fire Safety . But two of the major retailers that count on low-wage Bangladeshi workers to make the clothes they sell have refused.
Today. Walmart and Gap announced they would develop their own nonbinding safety code and turned their backs on the accord developed by international and Bangladeshi unions, retailers and other groups—groups with firsthand knowledge of what’s needed for worker safety and of the deadly consequences of inaction.
In Paris on Tuesday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned the leaders and policymakers of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that the financial austerity measures, like those taken by European nations, destroy jobs, increase inequality and likely feed the public’s mistrust of government.
CBS News secretly filmed inside a Bangladesh apparel factory recently. There they found emergency fire doors blocked and just two fire extinguishers for a 100,000-square-foot area—another 11 shown on an evacuation plan were nowhere to be seen. Recent fires have claimed the lives of more than 400 Bangladeshi clothing workers .
At today’s Mondelēz International's shareholder meeting, the IUF, the international union body representing food workers worldwide, and unions representing the company’s North American employees raised concerns about human rights abuses in the company’s overseas operations. Many Mondelēz-branded cookies and crackers are produced by union members, including Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz and Triscuit.
A coalition of faith organizations, investors and labor groups—including the AFL-CIO—is urging major U.S. retailers, including Walmart, Gap, Sears and others, to sign on to a binding workplace and fire safety plan to prevent tragedies such as the recent building collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 garment workers and two 2012 fires that claimed the lives of more than 400 Bangladeshi clothing workers.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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