Wal-Mart supply chain workers to crash “ethical sourcing” forum

Tuesday, 18 September, 2012 10:55 Written by admin

Wal-Mart supply chain workers to crash “ethical sourcing” forum

WASHINGTON, D.C.—On Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2012, at 11:20am, workers who have exposed forced labor and severe exploitation on the Wal-Mart supply chain will demand the chance to address a Wal-Mart sponsored “ethical sourcing” forum.

Two workers will offer media a briefing on their experiences of forced labor, retaliation, and severe exploitation on the Wal-Mart supply chain: Ana Rosa Diaz, a former guestworker who exposed forced labor at Wal-Mart supplier C.J.’s Seafood, and Javier Rodriguez, one of the warehouse workers on strike from Wal-Mart contractors NFI and Warestaff, supported by Warehouse Workers United.

The workers and their allies will then demand entrance to Walmart’s “multi-stakeholder forum” on how to “accelerate the adoption of measures to improve ethical sourcing in US Agriculture and Aquaculture supply chains.”

Wal-Mart has ignored dozens of requests from workers across Wal-Mart’s supply chain to take responsibility for ending exploitation on its supply chain. Nearly 150,000 supporters have signed on to the workers’ requests.

Instead, Wal-Mart attempted a highly publicized cover-up in the case of CJ’s Seafood, hired PR and lobbying firms to do damage control, and has refused any meeting with the workers.

Wal-Mart’s latest PR move is Wednesday’s “multi-stakeholder forum,” from which directly affected workers have been excluded—further confirmation that Wal-Mart regards severe exploitation on its supply chain not as a problem to be solved, but as an embarrassment to be swept under the rug.

WHAT: Wal-Mart supply chain workers crash Wal-Mart “ethical sourcing” forum

WHEN: Wednesday, Sep. 19, 11:20am

WHERE: Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.

Gather on the 2nd floor conference area near the T St. entrance—enter at street level on T St. between Connecticut Ave. & Florida Ave.

CONTACT: Stephen Boykewich, 718-791-9162, stephen@guestworkeralliance.org

From U.S. Corporations, a Chain of Exploitation – People’s Daily – 8-23-12

Thursday, 23 August, 2012 11:05 Written by admin

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The NGA published a commentary on corporate abuse of guestworker programs in the English-language and Chinese-language editions of China’s People’s Daily.

From U.S. Corporations, A Chain of Exploitation

By Jennifer J. Rosenbaum and Julie Mao

August 21, 2012

(Chinese-language version below)

Every year, thousands of students from China come to the United States to take part in the U.S. State Department’s J-1 Summer Work Travel Program, along with tens of thousands of other students from around the world. These student guestworkers are promised a cultural exchange: the chance to meet Americans, practice their English, and experience American culture. Instead, many of them have become low-wage laborers for U.S. corporations.

How has this been possible? Because U.S. corporations have grown so powerful—and so unaccountable—that they were able to turn a cultural exchange program into a source of cheap, exploitable labor. And when human rights abuses like these are exposed, the corporations shift blame down their supply chains, hiding behind layers of suppliers and subcontractors.

A case in point is the Hershey’s Chocolate Company. Last summer, 400 university students from China, Mongolia, Thailand, Ukraine, and other countries paid $3,000-6,000 to take part in the J-1 Summer Work Travel program in Hershey, Pennsylvania. When they arrived in the United States, the students found themselves packing chocolates for Hershey’s under brutal conditions. They performed backbreaking work in round-the-clock shifts for as little as $1 an hour after deductions. They were offered no cultural exchange of any kind. When they raised concerns, supervisors responded with threats of firing and deportation.

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DOL slams Walmart supplier for $248,000 after forced labor exposé

Tuesday, 24 July, 2012 15:51 Written by admin

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Dep’t of Labor slams Walmart supplier for $248,000 in penalties, fines, back wages after forced labor exposé

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2012—Today, the Department of Labor (DOL) cited Walmart supplier C.J.’s Seafood for serious and willful violations of federal labor law, demanding over $248,000 in back wages, fines, and penalties. The citations reinforced guestworkers’ reports of forced labor by the Walmart supplier, which Walmart attempted to cover up.

The DOL fined C.J.’s $34,300 for 11 serious health and safety violations; demanded $146,622 in back wages and liquidated damages; and imposed $32,120 in civil money penalties for willful violations of the employer’s obligations, as well as $35,000 in penalties for willful violations of the H-2B program and the obligation to pay overtime.

The DOL investigation began after guestworker members of the National Guestworker Alliance (NGA) went on strike from C.J.’s Seafood and filed official complaints with the DOL on June 6.

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House blocks rule protecting guestworkers and giving Americans first shot at jobs – Times-Picayune – 7/20/12

Monday, 23 July, 2012 09:28 Written by admin

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House moves to block federal rule protecting foreign guest workers and giving Americans first shot at jobs

Published: Friday, July 20, 2012, 2:20 PM

By Bruce Alpert, Times-Picayune

WASHINGTON – The House appears ready to follow the lead of the Senate and approve legislation that would temporarily block implementation of a new rule designed to protect foreign guest workers. A Labor/Department of Health and Human Services spending bill nearing final action by the House Appropriations Committee includes a rider blocking enforcement of a rule that would require businesses hiring foreign workers to pay transportation costs and visa fees.

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House vote puts greed over worker dignity

Thursday, 19 July, 2012 10:28 Written by admin

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On July 18, 2012, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted to block funds for the Department of Labor to implement its new rules for the H-2B guestworker program.

Below is a statement by Saket Soni, Executive Director of the National Guestworker Alliance:

“With today’s vote, Congress has once again put corporate greed ahead of struggling workers and small businesses that play by the rules. As the Senate did last month, the House has voted to block the Department of Labor’s new rules for the H-2B guestworker program—rules that would help end the exploitation of guestworkers and the unfair exclusion of U.S. workers. Businesses that rely on exploitation to turn a profit are fighting desperately to block the rules, and today the House took their side.

“This vote is particularly galling so soon after the revelation of forced labor among H-2B guestworkers on the supply chain of Walmart. As a New York Times editorial on the case explained, the relentless drive of Walmart and other corporations to push profits ever higher is forcing down wages and conditions at every point on the supply chain. While all workers suffer, guestworkers are often the most vulnerable, facing severe labor exploitation that can rise to the level of forced labor.

“The rules that the House voted to block are meant to prevent precisely this kind of abuse. Severe labor exploitation in federal guestworker programs is more the rule than the exception, as the National Guestworker Alliance report Leveling the Playing Field details. While guestworkers are locked in to situations of forced labor, U.S. workers are locked out by employers who unfairly exclude them, preferring to hire cheaper, more exploitable guestworkers instead.

“We continue to believe that the DOL’s common-sense rules will prevail in the end. U.S. workers need them as much as guestworkers do. In the meantime, this vote will hurt business owners who aren’t abusing the H-2B program to turn a profit—and will cheer corporations like Walmart that profit from forced labor.”

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Wal-Mart supply chain workers to crash “ethical sourcing” forum