INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

CAMPAIGN AGAINST SODEXO:





The following story and appeal is from the United Students Against Sweatshop group. I gotta admit that the intro makes me a bit jealous. Going to Paris with a purpose. On the other hand I gotta say that I would much rather go to Paris with no purpose and certainly at a different season. Sodexo is one of those multinationals that you just love to hate, with a global reach and incredibly nasty talons at the end of its reach. Here's the story.


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Tell Sodexo that student-worker solidarity is global!
Yesterday, four of us arrived in Paris to confront one of the world's largest corporations on its home turf. Sodexo, the French corporation that serves food to more U.S. college students than any other company, is just days away from its international shareholders meeting. This is a key moment to show the 21st largest employer in the world that we will not tolerate poverty wages and union-busting any longer.

Click here to e-mail Sodexo executives and tell them to respect the rights of their 380,000 workers around the globe.

Workers are fighting, and it's time for us to join them in solidarity. As more universities outsource and privatize good jobs, the "Big 3" - Sodexo, Aramark and Compass - control more than three-quarters of all outsourced college food service. And these corporations squeeze pennies from workers just to make their billion-dollar profits each year. Big 3 workers and their many unions are fighting for justice on campuses around the U.S. and all across the globe. Workers in our campus cafeterias and stadiums are rising up against poverty wages, while Sodexo workers at a mine in the Dominican Republic tried to organize a union just months ago and Sodexo responded with a firing, and even the Sinaltrainal union in Colombia that started the "Stop Killer Coke" campaign recently fought with Sodexo to win fairer labor practices. The corporations are global, the worker exploitation is global, so our solidarity must be global.

Since at least 1999, students have been fighting to kick Sodexo off our campuses. By 2001, students forced 6 universities to kick out Sodexo, and the company finally pulled out of for-profit prisons in the U.S. (they still profit from prisons in many other countries!). For a decade, students from coast to coast have demanded their schools drop Sodexo over worker rights violations, environmental misdeeds and unfair meal plan costs. Now, USAS activists have launched a campaign to kick Sodexo off as many campuses as necessary until the corporation begins paying living wages and respecting workers' freedom to form unions without intimidation.

Please take a minute to tell Sodexo to respect worker rights.

We want you to follow us on our journey here in France. Here's a couple ways to get connected:

* On Facebook, "like" the Kick Out Sodexo page: http://www.facebook.com/KickOutSodexo
* We'll post updates on the campaign blog: http://kickoutsodexo.org/
* To get campaign updates by e-mail, just send a message to kickoutsodexo@usas.org

In solidarity,

Terasia Bradford, Ohio State University USAS
Vicko Alvarez, USAS National Organizer & University of Chicago USAS alum
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THE LETTER:
Please go to this link to send the following letter to Sodexo management.
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I write to express my deep concern over Sodexo's treatment of its workers. All workers deserve basic human rights, including the right to a family-support living wage and to associate freely.

I believe your company has violated these rights in the United States and around the world. The TransAfrica Forum has documented Sodexo workers struggling with severe poverty wages and a host of other human rights violations. Human Rights Watch reported extensively on your company's use of "captive audience meetings" and other tactics to intimidate workers from joining unions.

As an industry leader that makes over a billion dollars in profits a year, Sodexo can afford to treat workers fairly. I urge you to pay family-supporting living wages and to respect workers' freedom to form unions by any legal method of their choosing, on every U.S. college campus, and in every Sodexo workplace around the globe.

Thank you for your time. I eagerly await your response.

AMERICAN LABOUR MADISON WISCONSIN:

NO OUTSOURCING AT UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN:

This following appeal for solidarity with workers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison comes from the United Students Against Sweatshops.

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Tell Chancellor Martin to stop union busting


Join USAS activists at the University of Wisconsin and stop the university of outsourcing away good union jobs for campus workers: E-mail Chancellor Martin now

Stop Outsourcing Away Union Jobs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison!
Hello,

Here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we are waging a campaign to stop the outsourcing of good union jobs on campus. The university and private sources are opening a new building on campus as part of a "public-private partnership." The university and private companies want to privatize the food service at this new building, which would result in low wages, no benefits, and no union representation for all workers. It would also undermine the power of the AFSCME local here, which represents all 1,600 blue collar worker on campus.

Please take a second and email Chancellor Martin and the Managing Director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation today and stand up for campus workers!

Take action now: Tell Chancellor "Biddy" Martin to stop privatization and union busting!
In solidarity,

Jonah Zinn
Student Labor Action Coalition, University of Wisconsin-Madison
United Students Against Sweatshops
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THE LETTER:
Please go to this link to send the following letter to Chancellor Martin of the University of Wisconsin.
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I am deeply upset about the current situation taking place at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. The plan to outsource the food service jobs in this building is unacceptable. AFSCME 171 has a long history and tradition of representing the hard-working people of this campus and striving to secure a living wage and respectable working conditions. The outsourcing of these jobs will undercut AFSCME and will result in workers being exploited on the University of Wisconsin campus. One of the greatest strengths of the Madison Community is the strong union voice which maintains living wages and keeps the economy of the city afloat while most of the country is wading deep in the waters of recession.

The attempt to privatize these jobs is a blatant attempt to weaken AFSCME 171 as a whole and to move the entire university towards a privatized workforce. This is not what the university needs, the community wants, or the Wisconsin Way.

I urge you to resolve this issue immediately. The only acceptable resolution is to make these jobs public and to guarantee that these workers will have union representation under AFSCME 171. I trust that we can count on you to not let Madison fall by the wayside.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

TELL RITE AID TO DO RITE:

The following appeal for solidarity with warehouse workers at Rite-Aid Pharmacy in the USA comes from the United Students Against Sweatshops organization.

RARARARARA
Rite Aid Pharmacy wants its workers sick?‏

Tell Rite Aid: No more sweatshop conditions for California warehouse workers!
Support Rite Aid workers in their fight for a fair contract

Rite Aid wants to overcharge its workers by nearly 3,000% on their health insurance plan. Why would a company bringing in billions with the mission of keeping customers “healthy and safe” try to rip off its own employees with the health insurance they need to care for themselves and their families?

Tell Rite Aid CEO John Standley to stop cheating its workers on health care and to negotiate a fair first contract with its warehouse workers.

Rite Aid has been a bad actor for decades – exploiting our tax dollars, cheating the government, cutting and running from union plants, and punishing workers when they stand up against egregious conditions in Rite Aid warehouses. Two years ago, workers in their Lancaster warehouse refused to put up with Rite Aid's abuse, speaking out against daily harassment, disrespect, job insecurity, working mandatory overtime, and toiling in the sweltering heat. After voting in a union to protect themselves from Rite Aid’s abuses, the company retaliated with illegal layoffs and has refused to negotiate a reasonable first contract with these workers for more than two years. Now the company is proposing to overcharge them 28 times on health insurance while pushing higher drug prices on consumers.

Take action now and demand that Rite Aid stop this sweatshop behavior and negotiate a fair contract!

Rite Aid’s directors earn up to $100 million a year and pour money into busting unions, and yet they insist on ripping off workers by overcharging them on the health care that Rite Aid workers and their families need. Send a letter to Rite Aid CEO John Standley and tell him to stop cheating warehouse workers in healthcare costs and to negotiate a fair first contract in Lancaster.

RARARARARA

THE LETTER:

Please go to this link to send the following letter to the CEO of Rite-Aid.

RARARARARA

Dear Mr. Standley,

As a Rite Aid customer, I am troubled to hear that workers in your Lancaster, California distribution center who voted to form a union two and a half years ago do not have an agreement with Rite Aid to improve working conditions and give employees a voice at work.

Union contracts are our best assurance that Rite Aid is providing the good jobs our communities need.

I am also alarmed to hear that Rite Aid management has proposed overcharging employees by 28 times on their health insurance plan. This would constitute an enormous financial strain on workers and their families. For me, these abuses really are personal.

By making such an outrageous and unethical proposal, your company is making it impossible to move forward in finalizing a fair contract to end sweatshop conditions at the Lancaster distribution center.

I urge management to do everything possible to bring these negotiations to an expedited conclusion with a fair agreement for Rite Aid's hardworking employees. As a company that provides critical health care services to the public, it's hypocritical not to provide a health insurance plan that workers and their families can afford.

AMERICAN LABOUR-CALIFORNIA:
SUPPORT STUDENTS AND STAFF AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA:
The following appeal is from the United Students Against Sweatshops. Earlier today, after the Board of Regents of the U. of C. failed to listen to the demands below various acts of resistance began on campus. The situation at this hour is unclear.
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University of California Crisis Fest:
As budget cuts devastate many of our campuses, the state of California is facing one of the worst budgetary crises in the nation. The UC Regents are meeting now and have already made an initial vote in favor of an unprecedented 32% fee increase for students and they continue to carry out devastating cuts and reductions to campus workers and faculty. Hundreds of students, workers, and faculty have been protesting for the past 24 hours to demand the UC Regents prioritize the needs of the larger community and have come up with an alternate budget that would save the UC system millions of dollars. Over a dozen students have already been arrested in these protests. As we continue to organize locally to demand that our schools prioritize the needs of the campus community and broader public over the needs of a privileged few, tell the UC Regents to stop attacking public education and working people!
Send a letter to the following decision maker(s): UC Regents 2009
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THE LETTER:
Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the University of California Board of Regents.
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Below is the sample letter:
Subject: In Defense of Public Education
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
We write in support of University of California system workers, students, and faculty that are currently protesting the proposed fee increase for students and the cuts and reductions that have already been made to the workforce and faculty.




We urge you to follow recommendations provided to you by unions for alternate budget decisions that would save hundreds of millions of dollars in potential savings. It is reprehensible that students have been arrested for standing up for these basic values. The UC Regents have a responsibility to make decisions for the interest and needs of the larger public in the University of California system. We support the following demands:
1. Lower Student Fees.
2. Stop the Privatization of Public Schools.
3. Defend the Right to Quality Higher Education.
Prioritize funding to public education.
a) Provide budget transparency, provide transparency in the decision making process, allow for an independent audit of the UC budget, and implement progressive budget solutions.
b) Maintain our resources, including weekend library access.
c) Maintain comprehensive, critical, and culturally representative educational excellence.
d) Stop cuts to Humanities, Social Sciences and Ethnic Studies.
e) Cut funding for war. No military recruitment on our campuses
.f) Tax the rich and prioritize funding in the public interest.
4. Stop the Resegregation of Public Education. Ensure access and diversity in higher education.
a) Increase underrepresented minority student enrollment.
b) Provide full scholarships for AB540 Students.
c) No ICE/UCPD collaboration on our campuses.
d) Expand the Blue and Gold Opportunity Program to ensure access for low-income students.
e) Allocate funds for recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students.
5. Respect Workers' Rights and Contracts
a) Reverse the layoffs, protect vital services, and stop pay cuts for the lowest paid workers.
b) Stop the union busting and bargain in good faith.
c) No furloughs for workers who make $40,000 or less.
d) No ICE/UCPD collaboration on UC campuses.
Sincerely,

AMERICAN LABOUR:

THE HARVEST OF SHAME:

The following item comes Molly's way via the United Students Against Sweatshops. It is originally from the Student/Farmworker Alliance.

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Take Action for Farmworker Justice- End the Harvest of Shame!:
The Student/Farmworker Alliance, in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), is calling on food service industry leaders Aramark and Sodexo to do their part to end the exploitation of farmworkers in their supply chains! Add your voice to this call today by sending a message to executives at Aramark and Sodexo!

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THE LETTER

Please go to either of the two websites above to send the following message to management at the Aramark and Sodexo companies.

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Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

Aramark Associate Vice-President CSR Robert Dennill

Sodexo Chief Executive Officer Michel Landel

Sodexo VP Corporate Citizenship Arlin Wasserman
Below is the sample letter:

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Subject: End the Harvest of Shame
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
Robert Dennill, Associate Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility

Aramark

1101 Market St.

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Michel Landel, Chief Executive Officer

Sodexo

255, quai de la Bataille de Stalingrad

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

Arlin Wasserman, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship

Sodexo

9801 Washingtonian Blvd.

Gaithersburg, MD 20878

As concerned students and community members, we urge your companies to follow the recent example set by Compass Group North America in working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to eliminate human rights violations in its tomato supply chain.

According to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, "the norm is a disaster, and the extreme is slavery" for tomato harvesters in Florida's fields. The tomato picking piece rate has remained stagnant since 1980. A worker today must pick and haul roughly two and a half tons of tomatoes to earn minimum wage for a typical ten-hour day . These wages -- combined with the precarious and seasonal nature of farm labor -- result in workers' sub-poverty annual earnings and create an environment where horrific forms of labor abuse flourish.

In the extreme, workers face situations of forced labor. The CIW -- a Florida-based human rights organization leading the movement to reform the state's farm labor relations -- has aided the US Department of Justice in the successful prosecution of seven modern-day slavery cases involving a total of more than one thousand farmworkers in the past decade.

On September 25, the CIW and Compass Group North America announced sweeping changes to improve tomato harvesters' wages and working conditions. Compass is the first major foodservice provider to join Yum Brands, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods Market and Bon Appetit Management Company in partnering with the CIW to address the human rights crisis in Florida's fields.

Now we turn to your companie s. Aramark and Sodexo claim to adhere to high standards of corporate citizenship and social responsibility, and to hold your suppliers to those same standards.

With news of the Compass agreement, your companies can no longer claim that they meet the highest ethical standards. We expect that Aramark and Sodexo will follow suit and establish agreements with the CIW with all due diligence to demand those same higher standards of your tomato suppliers. Until that time, however, we have no choice but to intensify our educational efforts to inform our campuses and communities of Aramark's and Sodexo's role in prolonging Florida's harvest of shame.

Sincerely,

AMERICAN LABOUR-CRYSTAL CITY:

SOLIDARITY WITH FERDI LAZO:

The following appeal is from the United Students Against Sweatshops, and it concerns the efforts to organize hotels operated by HEI Hotels and Resorts. This operation seems to be a cross between a holding company and a franchise chain. No doubt there is some creative tax accounting involved as well. One thing is certain, the management of HEI is viciously anti-union and will do anything to deny their employees their rights. Here's the appeal...

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HEI Fires Union Leader Ferdi Lazo:
On Wednesday May 27, union leader Ferdi Lazo was fired from the HEI Sheraton Crystal City Hotel. Ferdi is an outspoken leader of the campaign for workplace justice who has led delegations to management, marched on picket lines, traveled to speak with students at universities invested in HEI and tirelessly stood up for his coworkers rights and dignity.

HEI workers across the country are campaigning for a fair card check neutrality process to decide whether or not to form a union. At each hotel where workers have demanded justice, HEI has laidoff or disciplined union activists. On the first day of the campaign in Northern Virginia, Ferdi was suspended without pay. After an outpouring of student and community solidarity, Ferdi was called back to work. Now he needs our support again!

Call Sheraton Crystal City General Manager, Pradeep Bobba: 703.486.1111
"Hi, my name is ________ and I am a student calling from ________. I urge you to immediately respect the rights of your hotel workers by signing a Card Check Neutrality Agreement and reinstating Ferdi Lazo! Thank you. "
Tell me more

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to HEI management.

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Subject:I Stand With Ferdi!
Dear [ Decision Maker ],
I am deeply concerned about the recent firing of union leader Ferdi Lazo. Since 1990, Ferdi has been a hardworking, responsible employee at the Sheraton Crystal City.

Union leaders at HEI hotels across the country have been disciplined and laidoff in what appears to be a pattern. I stand with the workers who are standing up for their rights and dignity!

I demand that you sign a fair card check neutrality agreement and reinstate Ferdi now!

AMERICAN LABOUR-FLORIDA:
PETITION THE GOVERNOR:
The following appeal is from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers via the United Students Against Sweatshops. The latest news(not mentioned in the article below), as of 2 days ago is that the Governor of Florida has indeed agreed to meet with the Coalition, but your emails are still needed to show the Governor's office how much support the Coalition has.
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Tell Florida Governor Crist to Take a Stand Against Slavery!:
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is calling on Florida Governor Charlie Crist to commit the full power of his office to address the plague of modern-day slavery in Florida's fields. Add your voice to this call and send an email or fax to the governor today!





Background:
Just this past December, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice wrapped up yet another farm labor slavery case in Florida, a case the Chief Assistant US Attorney called one of Southwest Florida's biggest, ugliest slavery cases ever. This became the seventh such slavery case in ten years, involving a total of well over 1,000 workers.





Yet, when a reporter called Governor Crist's office about this most recent case, the governor declined to comment and instead passed the call off to the spokesperson for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Terrence McElroy, who -- not once, but twice -- gave the impression that one slavery case per year is somehow no cause for alarm.





For decades, the silence of Florida's governors in the face of the brutal exploitation of the state's farmworkers has allowed that exploitation -- up to and including modern-day slavery -- to persist.





Join farmworkers and consumers from across Florida and the US in telling Governor Crist that now is the time to break the silence and ensure that this latest slavery case is the last slavery case ever in Florida's fields.





The letter not only calls on Governor Crist to publicly condemn the continuing existence of modern-day slavery, but also to demand that the Florida Tomato Growers' Exchange end its efforts to nullify the agreements reached between the CIW and leading fast-food and supermarket purchasers of Florida tomatoes to improve farmworker wages and working conditions, the conditions that provide the fertile soil in which modern-day slavery takes root.





We will be collecting signatures, both here in Immokalee and across the country, during the month of February. If there is no response, we plan to deliver the signatures with a creative action in Tallahassee in the month of March. Stay tuned for more details on the petition in the weeks ahead, and in the meantime you can help us gather more signatures among your friends and co-workers, at your school or place of worship!
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THE LETTER:
Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to Governor Crist of Florida.
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Subject:
Governor Crist: Take a Stand Against Slavery!
Dear [ Decision Maker ],
In December of last year, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice wrapped up yet another farm labor slavery case in Florida, a case the Chief Assistant US Attorney called one of Southwest Florida's biggest and ugliest slavery cases ever, according to the Ft. Myers News-Press. I am writing today to demand that you use every resource at your command to ensure that it be the last slavery case ever in Florida's fields.




This latest case in which, according to court documents, workers were chained to poles, locked inside trucks, beaten, and robbed of their pay was the seventh such case in just over a decade. Indeed, so shameful is Florida's record of farm labor abuse that another federal prosecutor was prompted to call the state ground zero for modern-day slavery in the pages of the New Yorker magazine. Yet, when a reporter called your office for a comment on the most recent case, you declined to comment and instead passed the call off to the spokesperson for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Terrence McElroy, who gave the impression that one slavery case per year is somehow no cause for alarm. Given an opportunity to clarify his statement, Mr. McElroy only underscored his disregard for the victims of this most brutal of human rights violations, terming seven slavery cases in ten years, involving well over 1,000 workers, a rarity. His comments rightly set off a groundswell of outraged reactions by human rights, religious, consumer, and labor organizations and leaders across the country.




Governor Crist, even a single case of slavery in the twenty-first century is too many. As the leader of the state and the single most powerful voice for the protection of every Floridian's fundamental human rights, you must repudiate the words of your spokesperson, and do so with no further delay.




But you must do more than that. The key to ending farm labor slavery is to eliminate the degrading and inhumane working conditions faced by all Florida farmworkers on a daily basis, as these conditions are what allow slavery to flourish. The everyday exploitation of Florida's farmworkers includes:

-Sub-poverty wages - Tomato pickers make, on average, only $10,000/year;
-No raise in nearly 30 years
- Pickers are paid virtually the same per-bucket piece rate (roughly 45 cents per 32 lb. bucket) today as they were in 1980. At today's rate, workers have to pick nearly 2.5 TONS of tomatoes just to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hr day;
-Denial of fundamental labor rights - Farmworkers in Florida have no right to overtime pay, even when working 60-70 hour weeks, and no right to organize or
bargain collectively.

You must do everything in your power to ensure an end to those conditions and help lay the groundwork for a future of dignified wages and humane working conditions for farmworkers. Specifically, I join my voice to that of thousands of other concerned consumers of Florida produce to call upon you to:




1. Publicly condemn the existence of modern-day slavery in Florida;
2. Commit the full power of your office to immediately and comprehensively address the plague of abuse and modern-day slavery in Florida's fields by:
a) meeting with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and federal officials who prosecute slavery, and
b) demanding that the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange renounce its opposition to implementing the agreements that socially responsible fast food and supermarket companies have signed to insure better pay and working conditions for tomato pickers, so as to eliminate the conditions that give rise to slavery.
Thank you.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

JUSTICE AT THE SHERATON CRYSTAL CITY HOTEL:

The following story and appeal is from the United Students Against Sweatshops. It's an appeal for solidarity with workers in Arlington, Virginia who are being deprived of their right to unionize.

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Tell HEI to Respect Workers' Demands for Justice!:
Last Thursday, February 26, 2009, workers at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, went public with a demand that the company respect their desire for a Card Check/Neutrality Process! Just hours before the delegation, Union leader Ferdi Lazo was suspended indefinitely by HEI. One day after seeing the outpouring of support from students, local union members and the community, HEI managers asked Ferdi to report back to work the following Tuesday, but without pay for the days of his unjust suspension. While Ferdi's return to work shows the importance of community support, it also highlights the need for workers' demand of Company neutrality. Tell HEI to respect its workers' demands for justice!

Call Sheraton Crystal City General Manager, Pradeep Bobba:

703.486.1111

Hi, my name is ________ and I am a student calling from ________. I urge you to immediately respect the rights of your hotel workers by signing a Card Check Neutrality Agreement and paying Ferdi Lazo backpay for the days he was unjustly suspended! Thank you.

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send an email to the Sheraton management.

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Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

Mr. Bert Lazar

Mr. Gary Mendell

Mr. Pradeep Bobba

Mr. Tim Connolly

Sheraton Crystal City Management
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Respect Your Workers' Demands for Justice!
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I am encouraged to see that you have corrected your unjust suspension of Ferdi Lazo by putting him back to work this week. However, the fact that he was suspended the very same day as the workers' first public delegation to demand a for a fair and democratic process for deciding whether to form a union, without management interference is highly suspicious and concerning to me. Combined with similarly suspicious lay offs and discipline of Union Activists in HEI's Hilton Long Beach and Le Meridien hotels, Ferdi's suspension indicates a pattern of harassment of Union activists and leaders. This pattern highlights the need for HEI to affirmatively pledge it's neutrality by signing a card check/neutrality agreement.

I demand that you immediately respect Ferdi Lazo and his coworkers' right to organize. Pay Ferdi for the four days of work that he missed! Sign the card check neutrality agreement that the workers have demanded!
Sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-HONDURAS:
CANDIES AND SWEATSHOPS:
Tomorrow will be Valentine's Day, not exactly Molly's favourite holiday of the year, but any old port in a storm as they say. Yet some people will not be getting expressions of affection tomorrow ie the workers at Jerzees De Honduras. Molly has mentioned this case before at this blog. What is interesting is that there is a connection between the traditional Valentine's Day chocolates and the heartless actions of Russell Athletic towards their workers in Honduras. Read the following from the United Students Against Sweatshops, and see what you can do to help these workers.
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This Valentine's Day Ask See's Candies: "Is Your Owner Sweet on Sweatshops?":
Valentine's Day is a day to let others know you care for them -- a day for sending cards, flowers and chocolates. So why is the owner of one of America's leading candy companies acting like he's sweet on sweatshops? "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation is the parent company of both See's Candies and Russell Athletic, a major manufacturer of collegiate logo apparel. See's respects the right of the workers in its candy factories in the U.S. to join a union. But Russell has shut down an entire garment factory in Honduras -- placing the livelihood of nearly 2,000 families at risk -- just because workers dared to claim this same basic right. TAKE ACTION today to ask See's Candies why Berkshire Hathaway seems to think garment workers in Honduras don't deserve be treated with the same dignity and respect as its other employees. Russell Athletic is linked to some of the most egregious violations of workers rights in Central America in recent years. Last year, Russell fired huge numbers of workers in its plants in Choloma, Honduras -- nearly 150 workers in all -- in retaliation for their joining a union. In response to pressure from USAS and other worker rights organizations, the company agreed to give those workers their jobs back, offer them back pay, and to recognize a union at its Jerzees de Honduras plant. In October, Russell, claiming a lack of orders, announced that it would close the plant -- which it did at the end of last month. Two outside investigations have found that anti-union retaliation played a significant role in Russell's decision. Now nearly 2000 workers are out of work, and union leaders face death threats related to the closure. Outrage over Russell's violation of workers' rights in Honduras is growing. Major universities across the country -- Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, Miami, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- have taken steps to end their licensing relationships with the company. Berkshire Hathaway has failed to respond to the Honduran workers' appeal that it intervene in the case. Ask See's to tell Berkshire Hathaway that justice requires reversal of Russell's decision to close Jerzees de Honduras.
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THE LETTER:
Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to management at See's Candies.
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Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Mr. Brad Kinstler
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Is See's Candies Sweet on Sweatshops?
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
Brad Kinstler, CEO
See's Candies, Inc.
210 El Camino Real
South San Francisco, CA 94080
Dear Mr. Kinstler,
I am sending you this message to express my concern about violations of international labor rights at See's fellow Berkshire Hathaway company, Russell Corporation, at its garment factories in Honduras. Last year, Russell illegally fired 145 workers at two of these plants in blatant retaliation for their attempt to form a union. Now, Russell has closed that plant even though two outside investigations found that the closure decision, like the previous firings, was in retaliation for workers having formed a union.




We know that this is not how See's treats its unionized workers here in the U.S., and that you would not willingly allow your company to be associated with such violations of workers' rights. Major universities and their students agree: Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, Miami, Minnesota and Wisconsin have all acted to discontinue licensing relationships with Russell over the company's actions in Honduras. Please let Berkshire Hathaway know that See's disapproves of Russell's conduct and ask Berkshire to intervene to end these violations of workers rights.
Sincerely,
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Not to rain on anybody's parade, but there is more bad news about Valentine's Day. Here, from a posting last year on the Global Exchange site is the lowdown on that old valentine's favourite-chocolates.
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Valentine's Day chocolates - product of slave labour?
expatica.com
February 14, 2008
Those innocuous and delicious-looking chocolates given to loved ones all over the world on Valentine's Day are, more often than not, the result of incredible human suffering.





They are lethal luxuries. Those innocuous and delicious-looking chocolates given to loved ones all over the world on Valentine's Day are, more often than not, the result of incredible human suffering. Their main ingredient, cocoa, is often produced by child slaves in Africa.





"It is absolutely certain that the box of chocolates you got for Valentine's was produced by slave labour if it does not have a fair trade label," Steve Chalke of Stop the Traffik, an anti-trafficking NGO, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on the sidelines of a United Nations forum on human trafficking in Vienna.





When people think of human trafficking, they primarily think about the sex trade. But they forget that trafficking is a factor permeating all trades - be it sex, agriculture, domestic services, manufacture of fabrics - or chocolate.





"Chocolate is a prime example - it is cheap, and it is something many people buy - it makes the otherwise overwhelming statistics more personal," Chalke said.





According to UN estimates, at least 2.5 million people are exploited by forced labour at any point in time, a majority of them children.





In Ivory Coast, which produces 43 percent of the world's cocoa, about 12,000 boys from countries like Mali or Togo work as slaves on cocoa farms, the UN said. Activists put the number as high as 200,000.





"Even if it were ten, it would be ten too many," Chalke said of the modern-day slaves who are often as young as nine years of age.





The parents of those children are duped by the traffickers into believing their boys would receive an honest job, regular pay and an education, none of which ever happens.





Child slaves on the farm face appalling working conditions with 12 to 14 hours of severe manual labour, cutting down cocoa pods using big knives or machetes, thereby risking severe injuries which can often maim them permanently, Global Exchange, a fair trade organisation said. Some are also killed and many are beaten or abused.





"With every bar of chocolate you eat there is blood on your teeth," Chalke warned.





Many problems were linked to the insufficient revenues cocoa farmers receive, even in days of ever-rising prices for raw cocoa on the global markets, making it difficult for the family-owned farms to meet their needs.





But what is the answer? Dump those nougat hearts and forswear chocolate forever?





"No", activists say. "Buy fair."





By buying fairly traded chocolate, consumers can exert pressure on the chocolate industry, as well as ensure better pay for the farmers.





The heat is on for the chocolate industry, that back in the year 2000 promised to "eradicate" the problem of forced labour, to clean up its act. "They have done nothing. They say it is too difficult to monitor," Chalke said. "But if it were their children, they would have done it overnight."





Governments are also slowly waking up to the problem, with the United States a leading force on the issue.





Companies must clean up their supply chains, Mark Lagon, head of the US State Department's office on human trafficking said, with consumer pressure leading the way.





"If consumers can change the behaviour of the fishing industry towards dolphin-friendly tuna fishing, it is more than equally legitimate if it was child labour," Lagon said.





Tax incentives for fairly traded chocolates, far from an exotic niche product with large chains today producing their own fair trade brands, could be another way forward, activists suggested.
Slave-free chocolate can make the only pang of guilt associated with your next choc the question of what it will do to your waistline.
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THE CANADIAN CONNECTION:
Well, this is turning into something of a Valentine's Day special here at Molly's Blog. For those of you with an interest in the history of how this holiday came to be see our archives for February 2008. meanwhile here from the Canadian Labour Congress website is a story about what Canadian labour is doing this Valentine's Day to remind Canadian politicians that women's issues deserve more than platitudes.
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Will send "lip service" Valentine chocolates to all MPs:
OTTAWA - Barbara Byers, Executive Vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, says that the Conservative government is paying lip service to improving the lives of women even as it refuses to support pay equity, child care and economic measures that support women's equality.





"Valentine's Day is coming up but the women of Canada aren't seeing much love from their federal Parliament these days," says Barbara Byers. "We're tired of having nothing but lip service paid to our issues."





So the Canadian Labour Congress is sending each Member of Parliament a gift of chocolate lips with an accompanying note - "women are tired of lip service".





Byers says that MPs should be warned that women across the country are organizing to challenge the federal government's failure to support issues of women's equality.





The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.2 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada's national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca
Contacts:
Dennis Gruending, Communications, 613-526-7431 and 613-878-6040
Jeff Atkinson, Communications, 613-526-7425

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-HONDURAS:

SOLIDARITY WITH THE 'JERZEES DE HONDURAS' WORKERS:

The following appeal directed to the Russell Athletic company is from the United Students Against Sweatshops.

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Russell: Stop Threats of Violence Against Honduran Workers!:
Worker activists in Honduras are about to lose their jobs and are being threatened with violence! In 2007, workers at a garment factory called Jerzees de Honduras, won a hard-fought struggle for union representation - an unprecedented victory in an industry where workers' rights are rarely respected.

Unfortunately, Russell Athletic has moved to destroy the union at Jerzees de Honduras by announcing that they are closing their factory. Just recently, human rights groups have received credible reports of union leaders being threatened with violence, which workers believe is directly related to the closure of the factory. Russell has been asked, at a bare minimum, to delay the closure of Jerzees de Honduras until mechanisms are in place to ensure the safety of of union members and leaders - yet Russell to date, has not been willing to do something as simple as this! The closure of Jerzees de Honduras is a direct result of the predatory business practices of Russell, and such behavior cannot be tolerated. Tell Russell Athletic that they must, by whatever means necessary, ensure that threats against workers immediately stop, that the factory be reopened at full capacity, and its union members remain employed! YOUR ONLINE ACTION IS URGENTLY NEEDED - ALL IT TAKES IS A FEW CLICKS...

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter.

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Send a letter to the following decision maker(s): Russell Athletic
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Stop Threats of Violence Against Union Leaders & Keep Jerzees de Honduras Open!
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I am writing today to express my outrage over the planned closure of the Jerzees de Honduras factory in Honduras, and recent reports of violence against union activists. As I am sure you are well aware, the workers of Jerzees de Honduras, with support of students and universities in the United States, recently won a hard-fought struggle for union recognition. Jerzees de Honduras had become one of the few unionized factories in Russell's supply chain, and workers began to negotiate what would have been a historic collective bargaining agreement.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of commitment by Russell Athletic, these gains were never able to materialize. As a direct result of your company's refusal to make a real commitment to a factory where labor rights are actually respected, the workers of Jerzees de Honduras are about to lose their jobs. In addition to devastating the workers and their families, this act of cutting and running on the part of Russell will hav e a terrible effect on the municipality of Choloma as a whole. The Jerzees de Honduras factory is one of the primary sources of employment in Choloma, and the loss of these jobs will be felt by every member of the community.

By cutting and running from one of the only factories in your entire supply chain in which the right to freedom of association is respected and upheld, you have shown not just a lack of commitment to the basic principles that are supposedly protected by your company's code of conduct, but also a complete disregard for the lives of the workers off of whose labor you profit. Given that this is not a unique case and that your company has a history of cutting and running from factories where workers attempt to exercise their rights, I am left to wonder what your stated concern for workers' rights really means.

If your company is to exhibit a real commitment to ensuring that your goods are produced under dignified working conditions, and if the se standards are to be more than just a public relations ploy, then it is imperative that you reopen Jerzees de Honduras at full capacity as soon as possible, and ensure that the union workers remain employed. Additionally, I am absolutely appalled to hear of credible threats against the lives of union activists connected to the closure of Jerzees de Honduras. Russell Athletic must do everything within its power to ensure that these threats of violence cease immediately, or your company will be seen by me, and the rest of the international community, as a corporation that blatantly disregards both the safety of workers and their rights to freedom of association in your supply chain.
Sincerely,

cc:Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren E. Buffett

FLA CEO Auret van Heerdan

FLA Executive Director Jorge Perez-Lopez

FLA President and CEO Auret van Heerden

NGO & University Representatives to the FLA Board of Directors

AMERICAN LABOUR:

SOLIDARITY WITH OAK HARBOR TRUCKERS:

The following from the United Students Against Sweatshops seems to be for students only (see the letter below). If you are one of those gatherers in the vineyards of knowledge help out if you can, and think of the truckers when you sip your next cup of java.

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Tell Concordia Coffee: Too Cold:
Concordia Coffee supplies coffee and espresso machines to numerous major universities including Harvard, Princeton, Purdue, the University of California, and Stanford. They pride themselves in providing the machines and supplies that make warm specialty coffees for college students.

But when the striking truck drivers from Oak Harbor, who carry their merchandise, asked them for support they threw them out in the cold. Oak Harbor truck drivers have been out in the cold for over two months and have had their healthcare benefits cut along with having to deal with intimidation and strike-breaking from the company.

Tell Concordia Coffee: You're coffee company is too cold for college students! Tell me more

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following message to the management of Oak Harbor.

Subject: Concordia Coffee: Too Cold!
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I am writing as a college student to express concern over Oak Harbor truck drivers, who carry Concordia Coffee merchandise through the northwest.

On Monday September 22, 2008 Oak Harbor Freight Lines workers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho were forced to strike in protest of Oak Harbor's violations of America's labor laws, as well as hostile efforts by company representatives to intimidate workers.Rather than correcting these violations by negotiating with its employees in good faith, Oak Harbor's owners have hired a notorious strike breaking consulting firm, imported teams of professional strikebreakers and attempted to permanently replace workers in an effort to coerce and scare loyal long-time employees.

A report done by the International Labor Rights Forum found substantial evidence indicating that Oak Harbor has violated International Labor standards by, among other actions, discriminating against minorities and women in its hiring practices, pursuing a premeditated plan to permanently replace employees engaged in a lawful strike, employing a labor contractor that has behaved in a grossly unethical manner toward replacement workers it has provided to Oak Harbor, and by inflicting significant hardship on retired employees through the termination of health insurance contributions.

Several socially responsible companies, including Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) and Urban Outfitters, have suspended their relationship with Oak Harbor until the company finds a just and lasting resolution to the ongoing labor dispute.Unfortunately, when Oak Harbor drivers came to Concordia Coffee about the problem, they were told that Concordia Coffee didn't care.

That's cold.I urgently request that that Concordia Coffee join with other socially responsible companies by letting Oak Harbor know that if it wants to carry Concordia Coffee products, it needs to resolve its labor dispute and treat its employees fairly.
Sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR/HUMAN RIGHTS:

KILLER COKE OFF CAMPUS:

The following is a repeat of an appeal published earlier this year here at Molly's Blog. The United Students Against Sweatshops are Renewing Their Campaign to get the Coca Cola Company off the campus of Indiana University to protest their long standing horrendous labour and environmental practices. Here's the appeal.

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Tell Indiana University to kick Coca-Cola off campus!:
For the last 3 years, students at Indiana University have been demanding that their administration cut its beverage contract with Coca-Cola. Coke is guilty of labor and environmental abuses around the world, including complicity in the murders of 10 union members in Colombia alone. Despite this, Indiana University administrators have re-opened contract negotiations with Coca-Cola, hoping to sign another contract!

Please email the Indiana University administration today to demand that they kick Killer Coke off campus!

You can also call Indiana University President McRobbie at (812) 855-4613. Below is a sample phone script:
Hello, my name is _____________ and I wanted to urge President McRobbie to end Indiana University's relationship with the Coca-Cola corporation. The evidence against Coke is overwhelming, and ending your relationship with them would send a strong message that they need to clean up their act. Indiana University is one of the nation's leading institutions of higher education, and should show its leadership by severing all ties with Coca-Cola. Thank you for your time.
Tell me more

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You can also go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the authorities at Indiana University.

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THE LETTER:

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

IU President Michael McRobbie Indiana University President Michael McRobbie
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Tell Indiana University to kick Coca-Cola off campus!
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I'm writing to state my support for the Killer Coke campaign, led by No Sweat!, a student organization at Indiana University. I'm urging you to cease all business with the Coca-Cola corporation, because of what we deem to be Coke's inexcusable violations of human and workers' rights both here and abroad. These violations include:

-The contracting of paramilitary forces to murder, torture, unlawfully detain or effectively silence trade union leaders in Colombia;

-Overexploitation of water sources in India, Mexico, Ghana and elsewhere;

-Benefiting from hazardous child labor in sugar cane fields in El Salvador as documented by Human Rights Watch;

-Giving executives hundreds of millions of dollars in stock options and bonuses while laying off thousands of employees;

-A history of racial discrimination, fraudulent business practices, tax avoidance and corporate welfare schemes.

Because of all these things, it seems clear to me that Indiana University's duty as a leading institution of higher education in the United States, is to end its relationship with the Coca-Cola corporation. More than fifty other colleges and universities in the US and Canada have already taken similar action. I would urge you therefore, to act as a leader on this issue and take a stand in support of human and workers rights.
Sincerely,

cc:

Indiana University Board of Trustees

Indiana University Trustee A.D. King

Indiana University Trustee Jack Gill

Indiana University Trustee Philip Eskew

Indiana University Trustee Thomas Reilly Jr.

Indiana University Trustee William Cast

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Here's a little backgrounder on the activities of Coke in the country of Colombia.

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What's At Stake:

Students at Indiana University have repeatedly met with IU administrators to demand that Coca-Cola's contract be cut, and nothing has happened - the contract stands and Coke allows more horrors to occur. Students have held protests, candlelight vigils, wrote editorials in the school newspaper, handed out informational fliers, made presentations to the student body and administrators alike - all to no avail.

Administrators refuse to listen to the demands of the university community. Coca-Cola is one of the world's most powerful and profitable corporations. In 2002, Coca-Cola earned nearly $4 billion in profits, enough to pay its Chairman, Douglas Daft, $105 million in compensation. Yet, despite repeated pleas for justice, Coca-Cola has not found the time or resources to offer safety to the workers who bottle its products or prevent massive environmental devastation in the communities where it does business.

Death Squads in Colombia:

Colombia has long been the most dangerous country in the world to organize a union. Since 1986, roughly 4000 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered. In 2000, three of every five trade unionists killed in the world were Colombian. The vast majority of these murders have been carried out by right-wing paramilitary groups (aka death squads) on an ideological mission to destroy the labor movement. These groups often work in collaboration with the official US-supported Colombian military, and in some instances with managers at plants producing for multinational corporations.

In the case of Coca-Cola, according to numerous credible reports, the company and its business partners have turned a blind eye to, financially supported, and actively colluded with paramilitary groups in efforts to destroy workers' attempts to organize unions and bargain collectively. -Since 1989, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola plants have been murdered by paramilitary forces. Dozens of other workers have been intimidated, kidnapped, or tortured.

-In Carepa, members of the paramilitary murdered union leader Isidro Gil in broad daylight inside his factory's gates. They returned the next day and forced all of the plant's workers to resign from their union by signing documents on Coca-Cola letterhead.

-Another murder attempt occurred on August 22, 2003, when two men riding motorcycles fired shots at Juan Carlos Galvis, a worker leader at Coca-Cola's Barrancabermeja plant.

-There is substantial evidence that managers of several bottling plants have ordered assaults to occur and made regular payments to leaders of the paramilitary groups carrying out the attacks. These ongoing abuses have taken their toll on Coca-Cola workers' efforts to organize. Their union, SINALTRAINAL, has suffered a dramatic loss in membership, as worker leaders are intimidated or forced into hiding. SINALTRAINAL has appealed for solidarity and allies in the US labor and social justice movements have answered their call.

The United Steelworkers and the International Labor Rights Fund have filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola on behalf of the union and victims' families in a US federal court. Other unions including the Teamsters and many community groups have launched public campaigns targeting Coke. If history is a guide, students could be the force that finally moves Coke to stop denying responsibility and take action to protect its workers' lives. For more information, please visit http://www.killercoke.org/
Campaign Expiration Date: July 19, 2009

AMERICAN LABOUR:

TELL 'THE GAP' TO STOP BUYING FROM ANTI-UNION SOURCE:

The following is an appeal from the United Students Against Sweatshops.

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Tell the Gap: Don't Harbor Worker Abuses!:
Don't let Gap Inc. support worker and retiree abuses! Oak Harbor Freight Lines workers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho were forced to strike on Sept. 22 in protest of the freight company's violations of U.S. labor laws, as well as hostile efforts by the company to intimidate workers. A day later, Oak Harbor took the outrageous step of cutting off health care benefits to its workers and retirees. Instead of negotiating with striking workers in good faith, Oak Harbor has imported teams of professional strikebreakers to coerce and scare loyal long-time employees. Oak Harbor's biggest freight customer, Gap Inc., has supported the move to replace striking workers and cut off health care benefits to retirees. REI, Urban Outfitters, and other companies have elected to suspend their relationship with Oak Harbor until the company finds a just and lasting resolution to the ongoing labor dispute. Several organizations, including, Sweatfree Communities, the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation, the International Transport Workers' Federation, Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, and the International Labor Rights Forum have called on Gap Inc. to suspend its relationship with Oak Harbor. Unfortunately, the Gap continues to ignore workers' rights abuses and use Oak Harbor to transport merchandise. Tell the Gap to stop harboring worker abuses! Tell me more

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Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to 'The Gap' management. If you find that the recipient is blocking your email copy and paste the letter into your own email and send it that way.

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THE LETTER:

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding one of the companies in GAP's supply chain that transports merchandise: Oak Harbor Freight Lines of Auburn, Washington.

On Monday September 22, 2008 Oak Harbor Freight Lines workers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho were forced to strike in protest of Oak Harbor's violations of America's labor laws, as well as hostile efforts by company representatives to intimidate workers.




Rather than correcting these violations by negotiating with its employees in good faith, Oak Harbor's owners have hired a notorious strike breaking consulting firm, imported teams of professional strikebreakers and attempted to permanently replace workers in an effort to coerce and scare loyal long-time employees. In the last week striking employees have been bumped and hit by vehicles driven by strikebreakers and management, assaulted with flying objects, and verbally abused by company officials.




Even more troubling, Oak Harbor Freight Lines elected to cut off health care benefits to its employees and retirees on Tuesday, September 23, 2008. If Oak Harbor is permitted to abandon its moral obligation to its employees, many Oak Harbor retirees with serious preexisting medical conditions will be left to fend for themselves and their spouses.




Several socially responsible companies, including Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) and Urban Outfitters, have already elected to suspend their relationship with Oak Harbor until the company finds a just and lasting resolution to the ongoing labor dispute. Unfortunately, according to reports from workers, the GAP is continuing to use Oak Harbor to transport merchandise.




Considering these troubling facts, we urgently request that the GAP join with other socially responsible companies by letting Oak Harbor know that it should resolve its labor dispute and treat its employees fairly.