Check out April News from International Labor Rights Forum!

[Omaha Steve]

Keep reading to get the latest updates about ILRF and global labor rights!

* Easter, Passover and Ethical Chocolate
* Report from ILRF's March 17th Celebration
* Philippines Update
* Labor Rights in China
* Honoring Working Mothers for Mother's Day

Easter, Passover and Ethical Chocolate

Last week, ILRF joined Global Exchange and Green America in congratulating Cadbury on switching to Fair Trade certified cocoa for its popular Dairy Milk bar in England and Ireland. Cadbury's Fair Trade announcement was also a reminder for companies like Hershey (which owns the license to produce Cadbury chocolate in the US) that it is possible to achieve a higher standard for cocoa sourcing in mainstream chocolate. Click here to send an e-mail to Cadbury and check out ILRF's press release here.


As you buy chocolate for the upcoming holidays, don't forget to support companies like Sweet Earth Organic Chocolate and Divine Chocolate that have great Easter-themed treats!

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Report from ILRF's March 17th Celebration

Last month, ILRF celebrated the 25th anniversary of an historic landmark in the fight for workers' rights. Working with leaders of the labor movement, several of the original founders of ILRF created and successfully advocated for the first ever workers' rights protection clause in US trade legislation in 1984 through the Generalized System of Preferences (check out how ILRF is still using this clause to support workers in the Philippines in the next section). Two years later, in 1986, ILRF was founded to continue the fight for workers' rights worldwide.


During the event, ILRF staff members and leaders from both the US and international labor movements celebrated how much we have accomplished, but also remembered how much more work still needs to be done. Awards were presented to US Representative Jan Schakowsky; Francisco Ramirez Cuellar, President of the Colombian Mineworkers' Union (Sintraminercol); and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for their commitment to workers' rights in the US and abroad. At the end of the evening, guests departed with fair trade chocolates as a thank you gift and a reminder that there are alternative solutions that can help build a just world for workers. To view photos of the celebration, click here.

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Philippines Update

ILRF continues to work with partners in the US and the Philippines to demand an end to the abuses committed by the Philippines government and military against human rights activists and trade unionists. We have put pressure on the US government to uphold labor conditionality through both military appropriations allocated to the Philippines as well as through the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade preferences program. ILRF worked with hundreds of faith, labor and human rights leaders to send this letter to members of Congress in the US to call for human rights conditions to be placed on US military aid to the Philippines. ILRF and three prominent church organizations followed up on the letter by submitting testimony to the House Appropriations Sub-Committee on Foreign Operations. For more information on our latest work in the Philippines, including information on how we are using labor rights conditions in US trade policy to protect the freedom of association in the Philippines, please click here.


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Labor Rights in China

ILRF Executive Director Bama Athreya recently addressed the Congressional-Executive Commission on China about labor and economic developments in China. Bama focused on China's rising unemployment and resulting labor protests since the onset of the world financial crisis. She also addressed China's recently-enacted Labor Contract Law as well as opportunities for dialogue between the US and China on protecting worker's rights in both countries. Click here to read Bama's statement.

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Honoring Working Mothers for Mother's Day

In light of Mother's Day, ILRF will be profiling various working mothers around the world as a reminder of the obstacles women face in the workplace internationally during the week of May 3 through the 10th. ILRF will be hosting speaking events for Amanda Camacho, a flower worker and union leader from Colombia, including a Congressional International Workers' Rights Caucus Briefing focused on working women. Amanda will go on a speaking tour in the Chicago-Cleveland region, Florida and along the Washington DC-New York corridor in coordination with USLEAP and South Florida Jobs with Justice. Check out our website next month to find out if Amanda will be speaking near you!


Also, stay posted for ILRF's Mother's Day Flower Raffle and see how you can have a free bouquet of fairly traded, sustainable flowers sent to your mother!

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Help ILRF fight for workers' rights globally!

In this time of economic crisis, your support for workers internationally is needed more than ever. Click here to make a donation to ILRF and click here to spread the word about our e-mail action list to friends! THANK YOU for your ongoing support and activism!



Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this; http://www.unionvoice.org/laborrights/join-forward.tcl?domain=laborrights&r=