textile workers

Interview of Marti Garza - The Texas Labor Podcast, June 25, 2023

By Richard Mellor - We Know What's Up, August 1, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Back in December 2011, Hilary Clinton visited Myanmar in the wake of the military dictatorship’s introduction of reforms.  Ms. Clinton was accompanied on that visit by corporate leaders looking for lucrative investment opportunities and cheap labor. Military dictatorship’s can be a bit too unstable for investors looking for profits sometimes, but with a firm grip on dissent and unions they can be good business partners.

US president Barack Obama has just finished a 5-day visit to East Africa with the same goal in mind.  “Africa is the final frontier in the global rag trade—the last untapped continent with cheap and plentiful labor,”  the Wall Street Journal wrote prior to Obama’s exploratory mission.  What with Chinese workers waging successful struggles for higher wages and the Cambodians following suite, Africans are in the sights of the garment industry investors.

Even the poverty stricken garment workers in Bangladesh who earn at least $67 a month are too expensive for the likes of WalMart and other Western retailers. PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger and VF, parent company of brands that include Wrangler, Lee and Timberland, are looking to descend on Africa like vultures on a dying animal.  JC Penney and Levi Strauss have been moving production to Africa as well. Ethiopia is a particularly attractive location as economic growth has been pleasing Wall Street and the country has no minimum wage.  Ethiopian garment workers were earning $21 a month as of last year according to the Ethiopian government. Despite lacking in infrastructure and a relatively untrained (for sewing garments) labor force, the apparel companies are “still drawn to the cheap labor and inexpensive power…” the WSJ writes.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 23, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Story:

• In the Global Apparel Industry, Abusive and Deadly Working Conditions Are Still the Norm - By Erik Loomis, In These Times, June 15, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Ben & Jerry’s commits to work with Vermont dairy workers toward agreement to adopt Milk with Dignity Program in company’s Northeast dairy supply chain! - Coalition of Immokalee Workers, June 22, 2015
• Al Jazeera Documentary Shows Mexican Farmworkers’ Struggles in Historic Strike - By Rachel Luban, In These Times, June 20, 2015
• Migrant Farmworkers Ask Ben and Jerry's to Provide "Milk With Dignity" - By Jonathan Leavitt, Truthout, June 19, 2015
• California Court Ruling Could Make It Nearly Impossible for Farmworkers To Win Union Contracts - By David Bacon, In These Times, June 17, 2015
• Sri Lanka: Implement the Glyphosate Herbicide ban immediately! - By National Movement Against Poisons, La Via Campesina, June 17, 2015
• 1000 Cow Factory Farms: Milk crisis - By José Miguel Pacheco Gonçalves, Isabel Vilalba, and Victor Pereira, La Via Campesina, June 16, 2015
• Cycles of Oppression, Cycles of Liberation: The Nasa People of Colombia Are Dispossessed Once Again - By Natalia Fajardo, Upside Down World, June 15, 2015
• West Coast Grange Wars: A Reborn Farmers’ Movement Takes on Corporate Agriculture - By John Collins, In These Times, June 14, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Reflections on the Miners Memorial Weekend: Cumberland, British Columbia - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, June 21, 2015
• It’s “the President’s call”: Safer Communities or More Foot-dragging - By Taylor Smith-Hams, Greenpeace Blog, June 18, 2015
• New York State Legislators Have Just One More Day To Pass a Bill Protecting Nail Salon Workers - By Karen Gwee, In These Times, June 17, 2015
• OSHA says open-flame heater caused gas rig fire that killed three Oklahoma workers - Associated Press, June 17, 2015
• Judge Greenlights Malibu School PCB Lawsuit; District Spending Tops $6 Million in Steps to Avoid Complete Cleanup - By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, June 16, 2015
• Campaign Victory: Full Compensation Secured for Rana Plaza Victims - By Judy Gearhart, International Labor Rights Forum, June 8, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• NOV cuts 1,500 jobs in Norway amid crude crunch - By Joshua Cain, FuelFix, June 17, 2015
• Statoil to cut 2,000 jobs, adding to Norway’s woes - Bloomberg, June 16, 2015
• What happened to 160,000 fracking jobs? Under Wolf, the numbers change - By Marie Cusick, State Impact, June 16, 2015
• The dark side of the shale bust - By Nick Cunningham, OilPrice.Com, June 14, 2015

Just Transition:

• Replacing Hazelwood is urgent, but who pays for the jobs transition? - By David Spratt, Climate Code Red, June 17, 2015
• Want More U.S. Jobs? Enforce Carbon Pollution Limits - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, June 15, 2015

Other News:

• Monument to labor activist Mother Jones rededicated in Mount Olive - By Steven Spearie, State Journal Register, June 20, 2015
• Workers clean up oil spill on California beaches by hand - Associated Press, June 20, 2015
• Could a California labor ruling drive Uber under? - By Heather Smith, Grist, June 17, 2015
• Uber must die - By David Bush, rankandfile.ca, June 16, 2015
• Workers at Chile's Collahuasi copper mine end strike - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, June 16, 2015
• Steelworkers to vote on agreement to return to work at Galveston Bay refinery - By L.M. Sixel, FuelFix, June 15, 2015
• Martial law has anti-mine protesters back at work - By Franklin Briceno, Associated Press, June 12, 2015
• Outfitters seek exemption from new federal minimum wage; Bill would allow recreation businesses to operate on federal land without paying staff $10.10 an hour - By Elizabeth Shogren, High Country News, June 12, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 26, 2015 (Image: Judi Bari stands defiant outside of the Oakland Federal Building, ca: 1996).

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Special Note: Due to the recent (voluntarily, fortunately) location of this site's main administrator, some of these stories are a little delayed. We apologize for any delay in timely reporting. Bear with us; we're all working class volunteers. ;-)

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• WARNING: The TPP is a hazard to your health and our Democracy! - Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio, National Nurses United, April 23, 2015
• Who’s Really Paying for Our Cheap Clothes? - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, April 20, 2015

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Government Finds $60 Billion Company Responsible For Deaths Of Four Workers, Fines It $99,000 - By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, May 18, 2015
• Nine oil well deaths lead to warning about inhaling chemicals - Associated Press, May 18, 2015
• Global union action against asbestos - By Brian Kohler, Industriall Global Union, May 13, 2015
• 2 workers dead, 10 hurt in Mexico oil rig accident - Associated Press, May 5, 2015
• Workers end two-week long strike at BHP’s nickel mine in Colombia - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, May 4, 2015
• AFL-CIO Report: The High Toll of Job Injuries and Deaths - By the AFL-CIO, Portside, May 1, 2015
• A Global perspective on hazardous chemicals in the workplace - By Friis Bach, Environmental News Network, April 28, 2015
• Make Your Voice Heard, Speak Out for Safe Jobs, Protect Workers Now! - Blue Green Alliance, April 28, 2015
• 3 gold miners die in Ghana - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, April 26, 2015
• On 2-Year Anniversary of Rana Plaza Factory Collapse, Activists Announce Major Victory for Victims - By Miriam Shestack, In These Times, April 24, 2015 [related] Two Years After Rana Plaza Tragedy, Rights Abuses Still Rampant in Bangladesh's Garment Sector - By Kanya D'Almeida and Naimul Haq, Truth Out, April 24, 2015
• Women Around The World Rise Up To Remember Rana Plaza - By Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams, April 24, 2015
• World day for safety and health at work: the ETUC calls for occupational cancer prevention measures - European Trade Union Confederation, April 20, 2015

Gulf South Rising:

• Money spent cleaning up BP’s mess skipped those who needed it most - By Brentin Mock, Grist, April 21, 2015
• Deepwater Capitalism - By Quincy Saul, CounterPunch, April 20, 2015
• Gulf Fishermen Still Struggling Five Years After the BP Spill - By Mike Ludwig, Truthout, April 20, 2015
• Gulf South Rising: Demonstrations Across US on Fifth Anniversary of BP Oil Spill - Earth First! Newswire, April 20, 2015
• Five Years After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, We Are Closer Than Ever to Catastrophe - By András Tilcsik and Chris Clearfield, The Guardian, April 17, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Canadian oil field services company cuts 2,000 jobs across North America - Bloomberg, May 13, 2015
• Houston engineering company cuts 1,700 jobs amid first quarter loss - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, May 12, 2015
• More oilfield jobs lost despite modest rebound in crude prices - By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, FuelFix, May 8, 2015
• Hercules Offshore has cut 40 percent of workforce amid low oil - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 29, 2015
• BP cuts hundreds of jobs as profits fall by nearly $1 billions - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 28, 2015
• Linn Energy to close Denver office, shed 55 jobs - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, April 24, 2015
• Weatherford increases job cuts to 10,000 - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 22, 2015
• Baker Hughes increases layoffs to 10,500 - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 21, 2015
• Nabors has laid off thousands in 2015, including more than 40 percent of its drilling unit employees - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 21, 2015
• Halliburton lays off 9,000 workers - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, April 20, 2015
• U.S. Steel to increase job cuts in Harris County - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, April 20, 2015
• Hercules sells four rigs as Gulf drilling work disappears - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, April 20, 2015

Just Transition:

• Renewable Energy Employs 7.7 Million People Worldwide, Says New IRENA Report - By Staff, Sustainable Energy for All, May 19, 2015
• The Coal Industry Is a Job Killer - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, May 13, 2015
• General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) joins TUED - By Bishnu Rimal, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, May 7, 2015
• EPA’s Proposed Carbon Rule Would Create Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs, Report Says - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, April 22, 2015
• Labor Troubadour Connects Working People to Climate Change Cause - By Staff, Blue Mountain Center, April 16, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Oakland residents deliver “coal” to developer to protest coal export plan - By Jess Dervin-Ackerman and Ethan Buckner, Rising Tide North America, May 15, 2015
• RNs, Sierra Club survey Richmond neighborhoods on health impact of coal trains - By California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, May 7, 2015
• Railroad union urges tougher safety standards to help prevent oil train derailments - By Associated Press, Daily Journal, April 26, 2015
• Court victory vindicates BLET position on two-person train crews - Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, April 21, 2015
• Survivor of rail yard explosion is emotionally, mentally shaken - By Nicole Goodrich, ABC KETV 7, April 17, 2015

Other News:

• Marathon workers say no to labor offer in Galveston - By LM Sixel, FuelFix, May 19, 2015
• SA gold miners face repeat of brutal 2014 platinum strike - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, May 13, 2015
• Farm Worker Advocates Target Ben & Jerry's - By Mitch Wertlieb and Melody Bodette, VPR, May 12, 2015
• LyondellBasell workers vote to end strike - By Andrea Rumbaugh, Houston Chronicle, May 7, 2015
• Public Process—Nearly Avoided—Just Killed that Proposed North Portland Propane Terminal - By Dirk VanderHart, Portland Mercury, May 7, 2015
• Hudbay's Manitoba miners down tools - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, May 3, 2015
• Here's the ad that is upsetting the union at Stillwater Mining - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, April 27, 2015
• The Undemocratic Job-Killing Trade Scheme That Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership - By Leo Gerard, USW President, In These Times, April 27, 2015
• Secret Papers Reveal Lawson's 1981 Plot to Use Army Against Oil Workers - By Brendan Montague, DeSmog UK, April 20, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 17, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• The Robots Are Coming! Let's Make Them Work for the Workers - By Thomas Matt, Truthout, January 15, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• BP, ConocoPhillips to cut 530 jobs in the North Sea - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, January 15, 2015
• Schlumberger to cut 9,000 employees, including in Houston - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, January 15, 2015; [related]: Schlumberger axes 9,000 workers - By Michael Allan McCrae, Mining.Com, January 16, 2015
• Wage growth for oil workers slowed in 2014, data firm says - By Joshua Cain, FuelFix, January 15, 2015

Green Jobs and Just Transition:

• By focusing on collaboration, not competition, teachers can save civilization - By Lizanne Foster, Rabble.ca, January 18, 2015
• Offshore Wind in the Atlantic Would Provide Twice the Number of Jobs, Energy as Offshore Drilling - By Jaime McClain, Oceana, January 15, 2015
• Solar Jobs Boom: US Industry Adds 31,000 Workers as Installations Surge - By Pete Danko, Breaking Energy, January 15, 2015
• There are now twice as many solar jobs as coal jobs - By Tim McDonnell, Grist, January 15, 2015

Other News of Interest:

• Bhopal Cloud Hovers Over Industrial Safety in India - By Neeta Lal, Truthout, January 20, 2015
• Five Die After Crash In South Texas Oil Field - by Katie Valentin, Think Progress, January 16, 2015
• Forced labor on Thai fishing vessels - By Farah Obaidullah, Greenpeace Blogs, January 16, 2015
• Global union alerts Bougainville about Rio Tinto - Adam Lee interviewed by Radio New Zealand, Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, January 20, 2015
• Oil-by-Rail Reality: Watch What Industry Does, Not What They Say - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, January 15, 2015
• Peruvian Youth To Protest Against New Labor Law - Telesur, December 22, 2014
• RCMP union: Solidarity forever? - By John Baglow, Rabble.ca, January 17, 2015
• Report urges injury, death coverage for farm workers - By Karen Kleiss, Edmonton Journal, January 15, 2015
• Soma, Ermenek, Yirca: Can Anti-Coal Activists Defend Coal Miners and Olive Farmers? - By Ethemcan Turhan, Jadaliyya, January 17, 2015
• Textile Workers’ Strike Stirs Discontent In Sisi’s Egypt - By Hossam el-Hamalawy, al-Araby, January 16, 2015
• Women Garment Workers Organize Against Inhumane Conditions in India - By Pushpa Achanta, Waging Nonviolence, January 12, 2015
• Worker dies at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant - By Justin McCurry, The Guardian, January 20, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC