Wage-theft Free: A Human-Rights-Centric Labeling Proposal

In the last few years, there have been lots of changes in the dairy and meat sections of my local grocery store. Now, I have the choice of buying “cage free” eggs, "cruelty-free" eggs, “free range” chickens, and “pastured" chicken. These new labels and products reflect the public’s growing concern and alarm over the deplorable living conditions of chickens in factory farms, the tiny wire cages, the lack of sunlight, the overuse of antibiotics, and even the debeaking of chickens as a way to prevent injuries from aggressive behavior.

After spending my lunch hour on Monday listening to Rachel Townsend of Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center (NWAWJC) talk about the working conditions inside poultry factories in northwest Arkansas, I’m starting to think that we need some more labels for these products. We need labels such as “wage-theft free,” “abuse-free workplace,” and “safe working conditions.”

The northwest corner of Arkansas is home to Tyson Foods, which is the largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork; the second-largest food-production company in the Fortune 500; and a member of the S&P 500. According to USA Today, Richard Bond, the Tyson Foods CEO, made $24.6 million in 2007. By contrast, the average Latina full-time poultry worker earns just $17,700 per year.

Townsend told us that after a worker was killed on the job at a construction site, the workers were given an ultimatum: sign a workers’ compensation-claim waiver or you don't get your paycheck. We heard about one man who refused to sign the waiver for three weeks, until he was told that he would be fired unless he signed. With three children at home to feed, he reluctantly signed the waiver. But only weeks later, while working on a faulty scaffolding rig in the plant, he fell and was paralyzed. Predictably, the company refused to compensate him for his on-the-job injury.

One in five workers in the poultry-processing industry is injured on the job. And because many are undocumented workers, they are hesitant to report abuses to authorities. They fear facing criminal charges on immigration violations and deportation. These threats are part of what fuels abuses in U.S. meat and poultry plants.

For three years now, UUSC’s Economic Justice Program has worked closely with NWAWJC, providing not just financial grants, but also strategic thinking and networking opportunities to help them expand their work. Townsend is also here in Massachusetts meeting with regional worker centers with organizing and movement building focuses to share best practices and develop ways to achieve safe working conditions.

In the meantime, I advocate a new human-rights-centric labeling system for meat and poultry products so that I can know as much about the degrading working conditions inside poultry-processing plants as I do about the living conditions facing factory-farmed chickens.

STITCH Helps Women Open Spaces for Justice in Their Lives

After a slow, bumpy ride on a dirt road that winds up through the lush mountains outside of Guatemala City, I arrived in San Pedro Sacatepéquez. I was on my way to meet UUSC's Economic Justice partner STITCH and the members of its Labor Advisory Group -- women who are organizers, former and current maquila (or factory) workers, and members of agricultural unions from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. This group acts as the sails and rudder for STITCH's work in Central America, and they had already been holding their meeting for several days when I arrived. I was invited to attend the last part of the meeting, when the Labor Advisory Group discusses its strategy for the upcoming year.

When I stepped into the meeting room, I encountered something unexpected. To ward off the cool mountain air, a fire was chewing on some logs in a big stone fireplace. There were candles lit on the mantel, and soft, lyrical music was wafting through the wood-smoked air. Although I'd never met any of the members of the Labor Advisory Group, nor STITCH's Guatemala City staff, I instantly opened up, ready to listen.

I tossed my shoes into a pile of sneakers and sandals at the entrance and began walking around the room to see what the women were working on. The first thing I saw was a collection of flip-chart papers taped up around the room, expressions of the work the women had been doing in the days before my arrival. Each chart detailed examples of accomplishments the women had achieved in their unions as a result of their involvement with STITCH.

Over the last three years, UUSC has supported STITCH to develop a Women, Labor, and Leadership project, which has culminated in the completion of a training curriculum for women unionists in Central America. The curriculum has four modules -- Gender, Globalization, Women's Leadership, and New Directions in Unionism -- each with multiple chapters that address the unique challenges faced by women workers, that offer strategies and analyses of power, and that expand women workers' ability to address and overcome violations of their rights. STITCH used an extremely thoughtful, participatory process to develop this curriculum, continually incorporating feedback from members of the Labor Advisory Group, who field-tested modules with their fellow women union members.

The most exciting aspect of this curriculum is that it strengthens women's understanding of their rights and boosts women's confidence so much that they take on positions of leadership in their unions. In some cases, they've formed women's committees within their unions and have even ventured out to form new unions. The charts spoke volumes...

We have a deeper understanding of our rights as women in both the labor and private spheres.
We have learned how to plan and give a workshop.
In our lives, as women, we value ourselves and have more confidence.

I walked around some more and began chatting with women who were working in small groups on artistic murals that depicted their vision for future years of work with the curriculum. STITCH plans to launch union schools, which will grow out of a process in which members of the Labor Advisory Group bring what they've learned about women's rights, labor rights, and popular-education methodology back to their own unions and communities. The ripple effect will generate new possibilities for women's groups within their union structures, as well as for advocacy around women's rights provisions in the unions' collective-bargaining agreements.

Using flowers, branches, and pine needles that the group had gathered from a meditative walk through the surrounding mountains, they built an altar -- a practice rooted in Mayan tradition -- to help center their work and impart a spiritual presence to the meeting. Then, they carried out a number of participatory activities, infused with ritual and symbolism, which clearly served to build mutual support and commitment among the women to help them tackle the difficult work ahead. Many of the exercises focused on supporting the women in leaving their fears and obstacles behind and bringing positive energy into their new phase of work.

Although what I encountered was a bit unexpected, it wasn't surprising. It was right in line with the reputation that STITCH has for doing its work in an innovative, gender-focused, and participatory way. STITCH recognizes that acknowledging the spiritual aspect of working for social justice and human rights entails an understanding of our wholeness as people. As part of an interdependent web, we must bring spirit into our work in order to sustain and propel ourselves as we confront injustice. And this must all be rooted in our everyday experiences, with an approach that allows women to begin opening spaces for justice in our lives as a whole -- at home, in the workplace, and in our communities at large.

Human Rights Day As a Reminder

In many respects, the international human rights movement hasn’t fully entered the American consciousness yet, in terms of knowing what rights we can claim as American citizens and what rights we can claim just by virtue of being human beings. There are so many overlaps and distinctions. Many of us don't know what human rights mean in the United States.

For instance, if we look at the situation of the disproportionate number of minorities, especially African Americans, who are incarcerated today in U.S. prisons, most people probably wouldn’t see that immediately as a human rights issue. We would probably label it first as a civil rights issue – and think of it as a way that racial inequality is expressing itself today as a more subtle form of Jim Crow justice.

When we think of federal agents making an impromptu raid on a manufacturing plant in Massachusetts to round up undocumented, mostly Hispanic immigrants and ship them to remote detention centers, we probably wouldn’t call it a human rights issue either. We would probably think of it first as falling somewhere at the intersection of domestic labor and immigration laws.

Today, as part of an effort to honor Human Rights Day, I represented UUSC at the ACLU-Massachusetts’s roundtable discussion on the U.S. government’s 2007 report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. State parties to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), like the United States, are required to make periodic reports to the U.N. committee that contain a fair and honest assessment of the situation of racial discrimination in their country.

The United States’ 2007 report was basically a whitewash, saying racism is not a problem in the United States – which gave activists an opportunity to call the government out on its deplorable record on racial equality, given not just the Katrina disaster, but also the host of statistics out there on race and poverty in the U.S. and disproportionate rates of imprisonment and infant mortality, low levels of education, low levels of employment, lack of access to medical care, increased risk of being the victim of a violent crime, and lack of access to legal counsel among minorities... all of which points to national practices that systematically violate CERD's promise of equal rights.

This turned our discussion to how people whose rights have been violated and activists on a local level can draw on the powerful vocabulary of international human rights law to call for higher standards and better treatment. This could mean, for instance, in the case of a hostile school environment that contributes to high drop-out rates and low education levels among minorities, calling this a violation of the “Right to Dignity” as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It could also mean calling inferior medical treatment for minorities a violation of the "Right to Health" under UDHR, as well as a violation of CERD.

For all involved, Human Rights Day became an opportunity to further ground ourselves in the assurances of human rights law and encourage more people to frame their demands in terms of human rights – in order to strengthen their present claims as well as to strengthen the universal claim to human rights by everyone.

So, in keeping with the spirit of Human Rights Day, can I recommend that you take a minute to look through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights right now, and as an exercise, try to pick out which right in your opinion is most in need of defense in America today? Is it Article 5, torture? Article 9, arbitrary detention? Article 23, the right to work? Article 25, the right to a standard of living? Please post your picks. We'd like to hear them.

"Floor Mats for Sale!" - Human Rights and Workers in the Informal Economy

Did you know you can get buy bed pillows, sweet mangoes, and six different styles of cowboy hats from the comfort of your own car while driving from Mombasa to Nairobi? And get a great deal at the same time?

Flexibility and entrepreneurship are highly prized skills in many cultures – they are particularly valued in today’s age of global capitalism.

During a recent partner visit to Kenya, UUSC witnessed this innovative spirit in the work of some of the world’s most enterprising workers.

Around the world, street vendors and mobile hawkers are demonstrating incredible flexibility as they respond to massive rural and urban change. These changes are a result of dramatic shifts in migration patterns, new policy environments, environmental changes, and shifts in cultural mores. The world is changing faster than ever, and because of that, the world of work is changing for people all around the globe.



UUSC is committed to strengthening sustainable livelihoods for those not usually recognized as significant contributors in the struggle for social and economic rights. Our economic justice program works to promote the rights – and responsibilities – of workers in the “informal economy.” These workers are often also the most marginalized and vulnerable – including women, children, and those workers migrating to find decent, paying work.

The concept of “informal economies” in most African countries dates back to the colonial period when colonial governments viewed indigenous unregistered economic activities as “informal” because they were not operating according to colonial government rules and regulations. The term now refers more broadly to all forms of “nonstandard” wage employment not covered by legal or social protections.

Informal economy jobs, however, can also be highly entrepreneurial. Currently, informal economy workers like street vendors and traders make enormous economic contributions to communities and nations, providing employment and substantive income that provide the basis for stable, peaceful civil societies.

Our partner, KENASVIT, the Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders, has made significant strides over the past two years by organizing and mobilizing street vendors. KENASVIT organizes to help traders gain access to their rights, and in doing so, the organization provides a voice and an infrastructure through which vendors can exercise their civic responsibilities as strong contributors to the economic health and civic order of their communities.

In August, UUSC programs staff visited KENASVIT Urban Alliances in Machackos, Nakuru, and Mombasa and attended the Annual General Meeting of the national leadership.

During our visit, we provided technical support and evaluation, and accompanied KENASVIT leaders as they paid calls on a variety of authorities including mayors, town councilors, district commissioners, and business leaders like the managing director of the Kenya Ferry Services Ltd., J.J. Ria.

During our meeting, Ria expressed, “We’re so happy that for once we’re able to deal with an organized team that is able to address concerns. We’re glad about the cooperation we’re getting from this alliance. They understand our mandate and we understand their rights. I hope we can replicate this kind of projects at other sites.”

KENASVIT is achieving recognition with local, regional, and national policy officials. Through their organizing efforts, the voice of street vendors and informal traders has informed the pending Micro and Small Enterprises Bill, now being considered in Kenya’s Parliament. This bill would formally recognize informal economy workers and provide for them in legislation and practices. This achievement has been made possible by the reciprocal recognition by vendors and policymakers that workers need to be able to exercise their rights as well as fulfill their responsibilities as contributing members of their communities and nations.

Informal work arrangements are here to stay. Street vendors and traders have not only persisted and expanded but have also emerged in new guises and unexpected places.

UUSC will continue to strengthen the work of innovative alliances like KENASVIT to provide a new model of successful worker organizing and policy impact that will strengthen rights for workers in the changing global economy.

Can We Make Fair Trade More Fair?

Today, August 9, we celebrate the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, which was established in 2004 by the United Nations to mark each year’s passing of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Since this day has been set aside to raise awareness of indigenous issues and to promote the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, it seems appropriate to reflect on fair trade, a system that has been developed to improve economic conditions of small-scale farmers, including indigenous farmers around the world.

You probably already know why buying fairly traded products benefits small-scale farmers. Take coffee, for example — it’s a serious business, second only to oil as the most heavily traded commodity in the world. But the small family farmers who are the primary growers of coffee have little access to the world market and are exposed to volatile world prices. Fair trade gives small-scale farmers a more adequate and stable source of income, giving them access to international buyers and ensuring they’re paid a minimum price for their products.

Fair trade systems also help ensure that working conditions improve and that human rights violations such as abusive child labor are not tolerated. What’s more, agricultural products certified by TransFair USA (the fair trade certification organization in the United States) are grown using more environmentally sustainable methods of farming.

But fair trade is complicated, and it’s not just about paying a fair price to farmers. It involves processing and certification of the products, international shipping, marketing, and distribution. While participation in a fair trade cooperative does eliminate the risk of small-scale farmers getting underpaid for their products by exploitative middlemen, the fair trade system is still about competing in the global marketplace, and presupposes that trade is an appropriate means of promoting development. So what does this mean for indigenous peoples?

The Cultural Survival Quarterly issue called “Fair Trade and Indigenous Peoples” takes an in-depth look at these complexities. It critiques fair trade for not paying enough attention to indigenous perspectives, but also presents many of the positive impacts that fair trade has had on indigenous farmers.

Although fair trade does improve financial outcomes for indigenous farmers, it doesn’t address the fundamental conflicts between the competition-based, free-market system that governs today’s global marketplace and indigenous economic models. As a result of economic globalization and the international and national trade policies, indigenous peoples have been forcibly displaced from their lands and robbed of natural resources like water, forests, wildlife, minerals, oil, and natural gas by governments and corporations seeking economic growth.

In contrast, indigenous peoples have used and sustained these same natural resources for centuries, as indigenous cultures and economies are based on deeply-rooted notions of reciprocity with nature, sustainability, responsibility to one’s community, spiritual balance, and a respect for past and future generations. What's more, while indigenous farmers have traditionally grown their products for local markets and communities, emphasizing crop diversity and meeting the community's needs, globalized trade agreements have forced farmers to produce mono-crops for mass markets.

So while fair trade certainly begins to address concerns of economic equity and environmental sustainability, it stops short of incorporating the equal participation of indigenous communities into determining trade policy, or of reconfiguring trade to reflect the values, traditions, and world views of indigenous peoples. Perhaps it never set out to do this, but then can we truly call it fair yet, or is just fairer trade?

Looking ahead, there's the potential to address gaps in the fair trade movement by allowing indigenous farmers to play a more central role in devising how to create opportunities for all small-scale farmers to make sustainable livelihoods.

Rebuilding Hotels Instead of Justice

When I recently visited our tsunami response partner, Grassroots Human Rights Education in Phang Nga, Thailand, and talked with the Burmese undocumented workers with whom they work, I was amazed at the stories of abuse and injustice I heard.

The Burmese are employed to rebuild the Thai tourist hotels and infrastructure in Phang Nga that were destroyed by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Having fled a brutal war, most are undocumented, all are suffering grave abuses of basic human rights. They are paid half of what they are promised -- or not paid at all -- they are kept in sub-human conditions, shaken down by the police, jailed if they cannot pay, and threatened with deportation if they protest.

The most eerie part of that discussion, held in a restaurant within sight of a beautiful beach, was how the stories of the undocumented Burmese rebuilding the Thai coast after the tsunami mirrored the stories of the Latin American undocumented workers rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Katrina. I could shut my eyes and -- save for the translator -- the stories of labor rights abuse were frighteningly similar.

UUSC supports the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice in New Orleans and the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance in Gulfport in their work to organize and advocate for undocumented workers in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast who face the same problems the Burmese do. In Thailand, we support GHRE, a courageous organization staffed by Burmese themselves who help organize the Burmese, advocate for them, defend their rights, and provide services such as education for children of undocumented workers.

With the last UUSC grant in 2006, GHRE was able to secure legal migrant status for 25 of their workers, enabling them to travel freely to do their work without continual fear that the police would detain or deport them. GHRE sent us a photo in January of a group of workers holding up their legal migrant IDs, jubilant because they had successfully used them to get past police checkpoints without harassment. This mobility has given GHRE the ability to expand their defense of the undocumented workers and be effective advocates.

Now these workers are being hounded by new laws. Last week, Htoo Chit, the head of GHRE wrote UUSC about Phang Nga province's new restrictive laws against legal migrants. On June 9, a new law was passed prohibiting legal migrants from Burma to drive motorbikes, use cell phones, gather in groups of more than five people, or be outside between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. Thai citizens are allowed to confiscate motorbikes or cellphones from Burmese migrants.

Equally draconian laws were passed in other provinces. The Thai government is trying to tie the hands of those Burmese who are struggling to improve the lives of their compatriots by making it almost impossible for them to travel, communicate, or hold meetings. These are basic human rights that are recognized worldwide. If this is how the Thai government treats the legal migrants, the undocumented workers are more vulnerable than ever.

Htoo Chit from GHRE is an inspiring human rights worker who continues to find creative solutions to the thousand and one obstacles he has faced to defend the undocumented Burmese in Thailand. We will be working with him over the next few weeks to support him against this latest violation of basic human rights.

$2.65 is Peanuts ..."Raise the Wage" in Kansas!

Written by Heidi Zeller. Heidi is an organizer with the Kansas Action Network (KAN), a member of the Let Justice Roll coalition. Through the Wage Justice initiative, UUSC is working closely with Let Justice Roll and KAN to engage faith-based activists in grassroots campaigns, starting with Unitarian Universalists in Georgia, Kansas, and Oklahoma. (Photo: Heidi Zeller, July 2007)

On Tuesday, July 24, members of Kansas Action Network gathered in front of the State Capitol building in Topeka to “praise the wage,” that is, the increase in the federal minimum wage. Yet we all knew we were there for a far more compelling reason: to demand an increase in the woefully inadequate Kansas minimum wage of $2.65 an hour. That’s right – Kansas has the distinction of being the state with the lowest minimum wage (outside of the five states in the South with no wage floor).

But Kansas is a land of extremes, and this shamefully low minimum tells only one side of the story. I have been working on this campaign for a little over two months, and what’s so striking are the many passionate wage justice advocates I have met during this short time. These are the people who come to mind every time I feel myself slipping into a mood of cynicism. In other words, despite the many reasons to feel frustrated, it is impossible to be of that mindset for more than a nanosecond.

Contrary to what is often portrayed in mainstream news about this symbolic “heartland” state, Kansas progressives not only exist, but they are numerous, strong willed, and motivated to make positive change happen. They are from seemingly different universes – trade and farm unionists, independent living advocates, and organizers from the peace, justice, and faith communities – but they are united under a common goal to fight for wage justice for workers of all persuasions.

So with that goal in mind, representatives from these groups came together this past Tuesday to publicly launch our campaign to “Raise the Wage” in Kansas. Many members of the press were there too, with cameras and pens in hand. KAN’s president, Carla James, pointed out what millions of Americans know all too well: “When the number of working people living in poverty has increased every year for the past five years during a period characterized as a strong economy, the conclusion is unmistakable: our current system is broken and must be fixed.”

Andy Sanchez, executive secretary-treasurer for the Kansas AFL-CIO, spoke of the labor movement’s role in calling for “better pay, better quality of life, better jobs. This is an opportunity for the unions of the Kansas AFL-CIO to help their neighbors, work to change public policies and create a more just economy.”

Finally, I described how we plan to push for a more equitable minimum wage, through relentless petition drives and public education. I stressed that, with the long-overdue federal wage increase finally taking effect, Kansas workers are falling farther and farther behind. My final words: “Let’s bump up our shameful $2.65 minimum, and pump up our state economy in the process. Most importantly, let’s reward hard work with fair pay.”

To drive home the overall point, we handed out little baggies with a label reading: “$2.65 is peanuts!” filled with, well, you get the idea.

"Reality Check" on Minimum Wage

I have lived in Atlanta for just three years but yesterday, July 24, was one of the best "organizing" days I have had here. July 24 marked the beginning of a new federal minimum wage, $5.85 an hour.

While Democrats were whooping it up in Washington, the Georgia Living Wage Coalition organized a "Reality Check" press conference featuring a giant check that was provided by UUSC to dramatize that $5.85 "ain't no big deal." The theme (and chant) that ran through a crowd of over 50 coalition members was "Not enough!"

It was compellingly amplified by several speakers, including a waitress, a home health care worker, and two state legislators. Lilo Miller, the waitress, said working at her current job at $6.25/hr, "there's no way I can support my kids." The health care worker said that while she loves her job, she just can't make it on $5.85 an hour.

Why was this one of my better "organizing" days? You never know when you do a press conference if the press will actually show up. With football star Michael Vick all over our news, we had cause to be worried. But first one, and then another, tv crew arrived. By the end of the event, all major stations were there.

It was a good day in Georgia "shaking the peachtree."

Poultry and Pork-Processing Workers Stand Together

What do we want?
Justice!
When do we want it?
Now!

¿Qué queremos?
¡Justicia!
¿Cuando?
¡Ahora!

There ain't no power
like the power of the people,
cuz the power of the people
won't stop!

Gathered outside an H.G. Hills supermarket in Nashville, wearing yellow t-shirts that practically glowed in the burning Tennessee afternoon, we were shouting together. We were women and men of all ages, classes, races, and faiths, and we were holding signs, marching, chanting, singing, and praying together at a rally in support of pork-processing workers at the Smithfield plant in Tar Heel, N.C.

This rally was just one in a series of events to urge people to boycott Smithfield products and pressure supermarkets to stop selling them -- but for us it was a last-minute addition to our agenda at a poultry worker human rights convening. Poultry workers and workers' justice advocates, including UUSC's partners MPOWER and the Northwest Arkansas Worker Justice Center, had traveled from Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts to build the poultry worker justice movement by networking, sharing information, building strategies, and deepening skills in community organizing.

The convening was a historic event at which workers' centers in the Southeast were meeting face to face for the first time. This rally, a show of solidarity between poultry and pork processing workers, and between workers' centers and unions, was a fitting accompaniment to the convening.

Johanna Chao Rittenburg, manager of UUSC's Economic Justice Program, and I, along with allies from the Center for Community Change, Oxfam America, Interfaith Worker Justice, the Highlander Research and Education Center, East Tennessee Jobs with Justice, and the Humane Society of the United States, were participating in the convening to connect with the workers' centers and learn how we can support them most effectively in our collective efforts to improve the wages and working conditions of poultry workers. Before this trip, I'd only been working at UUSC for four weeks, so I felt extremely fortunate to participate in the convening and meet the amazing people who dedicate themselves to this work.

After the rally, we piled onto the bus that would bring us back to the conference center to carry on with our agenda. Gulping water and drained from the sun, we felt tired but energized at the same time. When we returned to our meeting we sat in a circle and shared our thoughts on the rally, each of us summing our reflections up in one word: excited, connected, solidarity, unity, hopeful.

For more information on workers' rights in the poultry industry, check out these resources:

"Injury and Injustice," (PDF) a UFCW Fact Sheet on the Poultry Industry.

"Finger Licking Bad: How Poultry Producers are Ravaging the Rural South," (PDF) By Suzi Parker, Grist magazine, February 21, 2006.

"Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants," (PDF) a Human Rights Watch report that profiles both the meat and poultry industries.

Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food, (book) by Steve Striffler. An anthropologist's expose on the U.S. poultry processing industry.

Expanding the Possible

Folks in D.C. like to say that politics is the art of the possible. I assume they say it based on their experience or perhaps it's to make themselves feel better about everything that doesn't get done around here. I'm always quick to respond, "But grassroots advocacy expands what is possible!" And that's where I've put my energies over the last 20 years as a D.C.-based advocate for economic and human rights.

Today was a perfect example of how grassroots advocacy expands what's possible. Ten long years have gone by since minimum wage workers last received a raise. Sen. Ted Kennedy, a tireless champion of workers' rights, has introduced his Fair Minimum Wage Act each and every year, only to find it wasn't possible to get it signed into law. That is, until the grassroots movement began organizing living wage campaigns at the local level and minimum wage increases at the state level.

UUSC has been actively involved in the Let Justice Roll campaign which brings a strong faith-based activist voice to the living wage movement. Last November, when voters went to the polls, six minimum wage ballot initiatives won and conservatives lost control of the House and Senate. That was the moment when the politics of this issue finally changed.

Today, as the first phase of the new minimum wage law went into effect, I was pleased to see Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who passed the bill in her first 100 hours) standing beside Kennedy as we all celebrated at a rally near the U.S. Capitol. In his speech,Kennedy acknowledged the leadership of the grassroots movement of Let Justice Roll, the unions, and low-wage workers who made this law possible. He also announced that very soon he was going to introduce a new Fair Minimum Wage Act to raise the hourly rate to at least $9.00. So, let's wage on!

Informal Workers in China and India

What do a struggling street vendor in Bombay and an underpaid domestic servant in Beijing have in common?

At a gathering last week at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, sponsored by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), researchers shared reports on the marginalized millions who toil in what's called the informal economy.

"Informality, Poverty, and Growth: Labor Markets in China and India" brought together economists, policy makers, and development specialists to analyze a growing body of data on the struggles of those who eke out a living outside the relative comforts of the formal economy. China and India, two economic powerhouses comprising 37.5 percent of the world's population, represented the focus countries for the research.

More women than men work in the informal economy. More women than men labor invisibly and undervalued, below the radar, without a safety net.

Shalini Sinha from the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a trade association in India representing 1 million Indian women who work in the informal economy, presented on successes she's witnessed with small farmers and street vendors. Research on the problems these workers face has led to novel solutions to expand their power.

Others at the conference presented creative methods by which to measure the work of and reach out to people whose work by definition is dynamic, not static, who may be reachable one day but gone the next. Researchers are more than an outside, measuring presence -- their best work is context specific and results in extensive collaboration with the groups they study.

The increasing understanding of the conditions of informal workers opens the door for improved policy to recognize, value, and protect their economic contributions and human rights.

Get Active for Economic Justice

UUs have long been actively organizing and advocating for economic justice.

UUSC's Economic Justice Program works to strengthen workers' rights around the world through partnership, policy work, education, and experiential learning.

Additionally, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC) has been working since 1994 to engage, educate, and activate Unitarian Universalists to work for economic justice, recognizing that people of faith are supporting and renewing their spiritual lives through the struggle for justice.

One new and exciting current collaboration between UUSC and UUJEC is the April 29-May 6 JustJourneys trip to Mexico to study the effects of economic globalization.

Another great opportunity to get active for economic justice is to attend a leadership gathering sponsored by UUJEC and the People Centered Development Forum, featuring activists and writers David Korten and David Cobb. This three-day workshop, "From Empire to Earth Community-Navigating the Great Turning" will be held March 30 - April 1, 2007, at
Columbus State Community College, Columbus, Ohio.

A Valentine for U.S. Workers

It seems entirely appropriate that the House Education and Labor Committee consider the Employees Free Choice Act on Valentine's Day. This valentine for U.S. workers, H.R. 800, would establish a system that would enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations and allow mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts.

Why do workers need H.R. 800?

Because the struggle for workers' rights continues -- even today. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights expressly addresses human rights in the work place. It specifically articulates the idea that workers have the right to form and join a trade union. Around the world and here in the United States this human right is under attack.

H.R. 800, the Employees Free Choice Act, is sponsored by Rep. George Miller of California and has 233 co-sponsors. (Party representation in the House is 233 Democrats and 202 Republicans.) I hope the Education and Labor Committee sends H.R. 800 to the House floor for a positive vote! Then, it's on to the Senate, where the political party representation (49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, one Independent Democrat and one Independent), Senate rules, and Senate traditions may slow the progress of this bill. We are forewarned and so, prepared to urge senators' positive action on this proposed law.

Background of labor movement history in the United States
A visit to this next site reminds us that the great struggle by U.S. workers to improve their lot began very early in our history.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, primitive unions and guilds were early attempts to secure improved working conditions. By the middle of of the 19th century, the Nation Labor Union was created, followed by the Knights of Labor in 1869. The 1894 Pullman Strike, though, focused in sharp relief the muscle used by corporations with government to break strikes using moral authority, military force, and compliant judges.

In 1902, the United Mine Workers strike idled more than 100,000 workers. President Theodore Roosevelt intervened and appointed a commission of mediation and arbitration. Five days later, the miners returned to their jobs and, five months later, the presidential commission awarded them a 10 percent wage increase and shorter work days.

Do workers benefit when they join a union?
According to UNITE HERE!, the union that represents UUSC staff members, union workers earn better wages, have better pensions, health care, and disability plans. View more information compiled by UNITE HERE!

Voters Do It. Business Leaders Do It. U.S. Senators . . .?

Support an increase in the federal minimum wage? Of course!

The impact of approving November's six state ballot measures to increase state minimum wages and index them to inflation is powerful evidence of an overwhelming intention by American voters for fair wages. These minimum wage measures are amongst the first in U.S. history to be indexed to inflation.

Business owners in every state in the United States are calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage! Business Owners and Executives for a Higher Minimum Wage is a project of Business for Shared Prosperity in partnership with the Let Justice Roll campaign to raise the minimum wage. Business for Shared Prosperity is a new network, in formation, of forward-thinking business owners, executives, and investors committed to building enduring economic progress on a strong foundation of opportunity, equity, and innovation.

Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco, the nation's largest wholesale club operator, has signed the statement in support of raising the minimum wage. Sinegal said, "The increase in the minimum wage is long overdue. I hope Congress and the president will move swiftly to enact sensible legislation that will demonstrate our nation's commitment to reward hard work."

Our success to date is the result of hard-working activists who now need a little more patience and work before we celebrate total victory. The Senate is still talking about raising the federal minimum wage. In democratic societies, voters may take the lead when those elected fail. So leaders, join the final moments of the effort and urge your senator vote a clean Senate bill to raise the federal minimum wage -- NOW!.

Congress Should Tell Bush to Take a Hike

Legislation to enact the first increase in nearly 10 years in the federal minimum wage passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly this week as the new Congress got down to business. But the celebration over this major victory for human rights advocates may be short-lived. Now, the action turns to the Senate, where there already is a movement afoot to offer amendments that would have the effect of killing the long-overdue hike in the minimum wage.

By the end of the week, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, reportedly was ready to amend the measure to provide tax cuts for small businesses. This is what President Bush said he would need for him to approve the increase. Last year, a federal minimum wage increase died in Congress because it was linked in the same bill with unrelated tax cuts for the wealthy.

The president’s latest tax-cutting scheme comes in the wake of the clear Election Day messages delivered in six states where voters overwhelmingly approved minimum wage increases. A broad-based coalition of labor, faith, and community organizations – with support from business interests – carried the day with persuasive analysis that a modest minimum wage increase would not harm small businesses. In Colorado, a Unitarian Universalist minister coauthored an op-ed in the Denver Post that argued forcefully that a minimum wage increase was the right thing to do, economically as well as morally.

With a Senate vote possible as early as next week, let your senators know that you expect them to approve a “clean” minimum wage increase. Keep the momentum for progressive change alive!

Bubble Gum and Workers’ Rights

Juicy Fruit. Altoids. Doublemint. Lifesavers. Countless numbers of these sweets are produced, packaged, and sold by workers all around the world, following a path from mint farmers in Idaho to the stalls of street vendors in Indonesia and Brazil.

Wrigley’s, the well-known corporation that makes them, recently agreed to develop a new “supplier code of conduct,” as well as begin to audit their ingredient and packaging supply chain, and become transparent on progress related to overseas vendors.

These steps were stimulated by a recent shareholder resolution co-filed by Walden Asset Management and UUSC, and reflect a corporate advocacy strategy that strengthens human rights by moving companies to new levels of social responsibility.

To grasp the potential impact that accountable, responsible corporations could have in ensuring human and environmental rights, consider Wrigley’s “footprint,” which includes production facilities in 14 countries and offices in 36 countries. Wrigley’s brands -- including licorice candy in Sweden and Pim Pom lollipops in China and India -- are available in more than 180 countries, representing 97 percent of the global population. In 2005 alone, Wrigley’s netted $517 million in annual earnings, with over $4 billion in net sales. And they’re just one multinational corporation among thousands.

Wrigley’s recent strategic decision to close U.S.-based production facilities in Illinois and New Jersey and open a new factory in Silao, Mexico, also reflects the push-pull of an increasingly globalized economy. Wrigley’s represents both the scale, scope, and production trends of today’s multinational corporation. Their sign-on to a supplier code of conduct is an important step forward and reflects a growing trend by large corporations to invest new attention into how raw materials are derived, and how resulting product is produced and delivered.

It also demonstrates the kind of impact that consumers and shareholders can have in strengthening human and environmental rights through corporate advocacy. One of UUSC’s partners in this effort is the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility.

Jim Gunning, a chief architect of UUSC’s shareholder advocacy program and a leader at ICCR says, “This agreement by Wrigley to our demands is a win-win situation, and the full chain of Wrigley suppliers will become more socially accountable in the process.”

Now that’s something to chew on!

Day of Firsts

The gavel has been passed. We have Nancy Pelosi, our first woman Speaker of the House! At her invitation, I attended a worship service this morning for the incoming 110th Congress.

While the new leadership of the House read passages from the gospels and the Hebrew bible, Keith Ellison, the first (and only) Muslim member of Congress shared a passage from the Qur'an. Adam Putnam, a conservative Republican member, read a Maya Angelou poem while others shared prayers by Cesar Chavez and Thomas Jefferson.

It was a good way to start -- interfaith and bipartisan. That's what it is going to take to repair the damage of the last dozen years. We can take our first important steps in the first 100 hours (which starts next Tuesday). One way you can help is by responding to this UUSC action alert on minimum wage.

Let's live out our best values by winning big votes to increase the minimum wage, make prescription drugs and college tuition more affordable and fund alternative energy. Let's make some more history!

Do the Math

Did you know that before lunchtime on the first work day of 2007, the CEOs of the top corporations have already made more money than a full-time minimum wage worker will make all year?!

A report released today by Americans United for Change documents this disturbing wage gap. The current Federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour or $10,712 per year for a 40 hour work week. CEOs of the Fortune 100 corporations make approximately $17 million per year.

That's about $8,400 per hour. Do the math and you will see that the average Fortune 100 CEO makes $10,712 in less than two hours! To make it worse, the salaries for these CEOs increased by 25 percent in 2005 while the wages of minimum wage workers have been stagnant since 1997. In fact, the real value of the minimum wage is lower now than it has been since 1951!

Luckily, a new Congress will be sworn in this week. Soon-to-be-Speaker Nancy Pelosi is committed to calling a House vote to increase the minimum wage during her first 100 hours. It may happen as early as January 10. We're working with the Change America Now (CAN) campaign and Let Justice Roll to change the equation for working families. Happy New Year!

Victory in the Yucatan!

On Friday, we received word that the labor protest of the unjust closure of the Jordache plant in Tizimin, Yucatan, Mexico was successful. The workers' demonstration, coupled with UUSC program partner CEPRODEHL's outspoken support during the strike, brought the business owners to the table, where they were able to negotiate for their severance pay and back wages.

CEPRODEHL's staff continue to document rights abuses that have occurred at the two Jordache maquiladoras in the Yucatan. In this way, CEPRODEHL "will at least be able to denounce the ethical failures of this business," declared the organization's president, Socorro Chable.

The victory of these workers will enable them to feed their families as they look for employment elsewhere, and would not have been possible without the education and support provided by labor rights workers like Socorro Chable and her associate Isabel Canche. We congratulate them for this success -- it makes a world of difference to the workers that together we support and empower.

Exploitation in the Yucatan

“Ustedes estan aqui para pelear por sus derechos humanos, y sus derechos laborales – ¡ANIMA!” You are here to fight for your human rights, your labor rights – have spirit! called Socorro Chable to the crush of workers crowded around her.

Their faces flickered in the firelight as they stood close to each other, huddled in the cool night air. She was addressing some 300 Yucatecos employed by a Jordache maquila in Tizimin, Mexico, who were gathered to block the gate of the factory in an attempt to claim what is legally theirs: back wages and severance pay.

The Jordache workers are victims of the global race to the bottom. The owners of their maquila are planning to close up shop and move to Nicaragua to find the cheapest labor in all of Central America, where people will work for much less than the $6/day these workers are earning. The workers have been given a three-day vacation and fear that they will return to work on Tuesday and find nothing there, which means no backpay, no severance pay, and no advance notice . . . which means no way to feed their families.

Socorro and her coworker Isabel Canche of UUSC program partner the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Human and Labor Rights (CEPRODEHL) believe that blocking the maquila gate is the only way the workers will be able to earn their liquidacion – by preventing the owners from taking the last items of value -- the machines -- from the factory and out of the country.

Said one worker leader, “Es nuestro derecho bajo la ley, y ellos tienen que pagar. Por eso estamos planteado aqui.” It is our right under the law, they have to pay us. That is why we are demonstrating here.

I wonder if the Gap and American Eagle executives (whose label goes onto the clothes produced in the Jordache maquiladora) and U.S. consumers who buy those clothes agree that workers have a right to be paid, a right to job security, and the right to organize to work for justice?

The Labor Behind the Label

The following statement was made by Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos at a 2006 Workers' Rights Rally in Altepexi, Puebla, in support of maquila workers who make blue jeans in Mexico's Tehuacan Valley

"When we buy a pair of blue jeans, we don't see how they were made. The story of exploitation that we have been told by our compañeros and compañeras is not written on the jeans. You don't see the working hours of more than 12 hours. You don't see the humiliation that the workers experience at the hands of the line supervisors or the factory managers or the maquila owners. You don't see the exploitation they suffer after those long workdays when they receive only a small amount of money.

"That's how the system tricks us. The products appear, but you don't see the worker who made them, and who suffered to make them. And, above all, you don't see who gets the money that you pay for those jeans. . . . On these jeans is written a story that ended at the moment they were dyed in blue, when the dye residues were released and contaminated the waters of the Tehuacan Valley, when the polluted waters started to affect the indigenous people and communities who depend on the spring water. And when they lost their water and their land, they had to emigrate to the United States in order to find work.

"We have to scratch our story on these jeans with our own hands because we don't have anything else with which to write our names on them -- the story of our dignity, our strength and our courage . . . the story of people fighting together so that everyone lives in justice, democracy, and freedom."

Blue Jeans, Blue Waters, and Workers’ Rights

“I know I am part of a just struggle.” – Garment worker, Tizimin, Mexico

Maquiladoras, or maquilas, are factories that assemble goods for export. In Mexico and Central America, the majority of maquilas assemble clothing – such as blue jeans and t-shirts - which are exported to U.S. consumers.

Exploitation of workers in these “sweatshops” is widespread and includes inhumane working conditions, rampant non-payment of wages, sexual harassment and use of child labor.

This November, UUSC visited two of our program partners who are strengthening labor rights at the heart of Mexico’s garment industry. Our visit highlighted the stark reality of the “labor behind the labels” of companies like the GAP, American Eagle, Mossimo (Target), Simply Basic (Wal-Mart), L.L. Bean, Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer, and others.

On our trip, we visited young workers organizing in remote indigenous villages in the Yucatan – the northeast corner of Mexico. There, we participated in a meeting which led to a decision by 350 Jordache jeans workers to block factory gates to protest labor rights violations. We supported our partner the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Human and Labor Rights (CEPRODEHL) to facilitate workers' strategizing and brought workers food and water over the course of three days.

Later that week, travelling across the country to the southeast of Mexico City in Tehuacan, we observed poisonous run-off from the blue jeans “stonewash” process as it poured from lavanderias into agricultural fields, and met with workers building an underground coalition of activists building a movement in support of labor and water rights.

In spite of oppressive human and labor rights abuses in the maquilas, there is a growing leadership of strong and committed women and men determined to improve conditions for themselves and their coworkers. They want jobs, yes, but dignified jobs and wages that allow them to provide for themselves and their families.

UUSC’s partners CEPRODEHL (Merida, Yucatan) and the Tehuacan Commission for Human and Labor Rights (Tehuacan, Puebla) are doing a formidable job helping to protect and strengthen the rights of maquila workers.

Their work provides a lens on how global economic policies are affecting indigenous communities, labor markets, and workers’ rights within informal sector jobs. Both partners are assisting workers to respond to these forces through education, rights training, accompaniment, organizing, and corporate advocacy strategies.

Stay tuned to Hotwire for more postings on our visit and the movement to build labor rights among workers in the garment industry.

Let Justice Roll

The Senate hearing room was packed. There were at least 10 TV cameras lined up and a bunch of reporters jockeying for good seats. It was the first time in a long while I've felt such a positive buzz in the air on Capitol Hill.

We were gathered for a news conference with grassroots activists from the six states that passed minimum wage ballot initiatives last week. UUSC is a proud member of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage campaign that helped win victories in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, Missouri, and Ohio. We were there to celebrate and to call on Congress to finish the job by raising the federal minimum wage.

Our call was answered. Sen. Ted Kennedy not only credited the movement with increasing wages, but also increasing the overall voter turnout in key states that elected new leadership in Congress. He pledged, as the incoming chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, to make raising the federal minimum wage the first order of business.

A resounding cheer went up when Sen. Hillary Clinton asked the crowd, "Are you ready to let justice roll?" We are indeed!

From Moral Values to Moses

After the dust had settled on election night, it was especially satisfying to learn that ballot referendums to increase the minimum wage had been approved easily in all six states where they appeared. I was especially pleased to see it had won in Colorado, where it faced stiff opposition in a traditionally conservative-voting state.

The successful campaign in Colorado was helped immeasurably by the advocacy work of UU congregations and individuals in mobilizing support, as well as in using the media to promote the cause. One especially effective tool was an op-ed in the Denver Post, one of the two largest newspapers in Colorado. The op-ed, titled “Colorado minimum wage – Hike is the right thing morally, economically,” was co-authored by the Rev. Jann Halloran, minister of the Prairie UU Church in Aurora, Colo., and argues persuasively that the ballot initiative helps to reduce poverty while at the same time benefiting the state’s overall economy.

UUSC is working hard through Wage Justice, our living wage initiative, to promote increases in state minimum wages and ultimately in the federal minimum wage. As a member of the Let Justice Roll coalition of more than 70 faith-based organizations, we worked with our UU colleagues in Colorado to help organize support for the referendum among Colorado businesses.

The hard-fought campaign in Colorado also produced some of the more unusual – some would say offensive – political advertisements. One TV ad used images of a cheese grater and a toilet paper roll to show how “painful” a higher minimum wage would be. Another invoked an image of Moses, shown holding stone tablets on a mountain, complaining to God that the ballot question would chisel the minimum wage into Colorado’s constitution.

Wage Justice!

The most viewed opinion column in yesterday's Washington Post online was "A Nadir of U.S. Power," an op-ed by Sebastian Mallaby that offers a swift analysis of the decline of U.S. power and political efficacy nationally and internationally. While I am wont to agree with Mallaby's grim indictment, I must correct him on one vital point. He writes, "The left and right are pushing policies that are marginal to the country's problems . . . the left wants to raise the minimum wage, even though this can only help a minority of workers." Raising the minimum wage is not a left or right issue, Mr. Mallaby!

A recent Pew Research Center poll revealed that 83 percent of the general public approves of minimum wage hikes, including 72 percent of Republicans. In fact, the Republican governors of both California and Arkansas approved minimum wage increases in their states this year, thus affirming the wide appeal of living wages. Clearly, this issue cuts across divisive party lines because it addresses the reprehensible reality of poverty in America -- men and women who labor 40+ hours a week in minimum wage jobs, but still cannot afford to feed their families, much less pay for health care or adequate housing.

UUSC's Wage Justice initiative is mobilizing UUs across the country to promote raising the wage, in partnership with Let Justice Roll, a nationwide coalition of more than 80 faith, labor, and community organizations working for living wages. Raising the minimum wage is, ultimately, a question of values -- the basic belief that work should be rewarded fairly, and that "a job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it."

An estimated 14.9 million workers would benefit from raising the wage nationwide, or 11 percent of the workforce. While it will not directly affect everyone, raising the minimum wage will give our poorest citizens, those in the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution, a handle to pull themselves and their families out of poverty. In the words of longtime minimum wage proponent Sen. Ted Kennedy, "Raising the minimum wage is a women's issue, a family issue, and a racial justice issue."

China's Move to Strengthen Workers' Rights is Undermined by U.S. Corporations

Last week, the New York Times reported that U.S.-based corporations are trying to stop a proposed law that would protect Chinese workers.

China's new draft labor policy would crack down on sweatshop abuse and strengthen important human and labor rights by improving pay, treatment, health and safety, and other standards for Chinese workers.

However, U.S. corporations such as Wal-Mart, Google, UPS, Microsoft, Nike, AT&T, and Intel, acting through U.S. business organizations like the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the U.S.-China Business Council are actively lobbying against the new labor legislation. And they’re threatening to take their factories elsewhere.

How ironic.

U.S.-based multinationals have long argued that their presence in China and overseas helps to raise human and labor rights standards abroad. Yet, the current actions by Wal-Mart and other U.S.-based businesses reveal the wolf in sheep's clothing.

In truth, multinationals greatly benefit from the huge pool of unregulated overseas workers. The vast majority of the world’s workers – whether in China, Mexico, or the United States -- do not.

Worldwide, workers face increasing insecurity in their jobs and lives. One sign of this is the rising tide of social protest across China. It’s these growing grassroots protest movements that are giving birth to the emergence of China’s new labor rights policy.

Workers in the United States have long been exploited by the false assumption that “Mexicans and Chinese are stealing our jobs.” The fact is, Chinese and Mexican workers also suffer enormous abuses within a system that is truly designed to benefit businesses.

Current actions by U.S.-corporations against China’s proposed labor rights legislation reveal this truth in stark light. Enacting China’s proposed "Labor Contract Law" would be a huge step forward in strengthening human rights in a country whose impact on the global economy profoundly affects the lives and rights of workers everywhere.