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| November 2009 edition | |
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Dear NikeWatch supporter, |
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| Adidas union leaders still jobless 4 years on | ||
It has been four years since 33 union leaders were sacked by an Adidas factory called Panarub for participating in a strike. The Indonesian Human Rights Commission found their dismissal was illegal. | ||
| Write to Adidas to express your support for workers’ rights |
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“I am not brave enough to think far into the future except about how to get a job as soon as possible. I live from day to day.” The son of Sumatran farm labourers, Suwandi is 30 years old and “still single.” Ten years ago he crossed the Sunda Strait to try his luck in Tangerang, Jakarta’s burgeoning garment precinct. He found a job at an Adidas factory called PT Panarub. It wasn’t long before Suwandi became involved in a trade union, protesting wages and conditions. “I felt really uncomfortable with the work system which existed there. I knew that to oppose it, I must organize.” | ||
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| Dangers of denim | ||
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Wherever that denim is blasted with sand to improve its look and feel, workers must be protected from a deadly disease called silicosis. Incurable yet preventable, silicosis is an occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of silica dust, a component of sand. It is declining in the First World, but increasing in the Third. In Turkey alone, an estimated 15,000 people have worked in illegal sandblasting workshops lacking vital health and safety precautions. Typically, it’s undocumented migrants or young people aged 15 to 25 who come to the big cities in search of work. “When I first arrived in Ýstanbul,” recalls Abdülhalim Demir, “I had to sleep on park benches for three days. Then I found the job at a sandblasting factory that saved me from the street and offered me a shelter and money. It was not a dream job for me, but I had no choice.” Abdülhalim even called his two brothers back home and got them jobs in the same factory. Now all three have silicosis. Symptoms include coughing, bloody mucus, serious difficulty breathing and an early death. The Turkish government has tried to crack down on shonky operators, but for countless people throughout the developing world, the damage is already done. |
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| Michelle Obama concerned for ‘sweatshop’ youth | ||
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“Think of the millions of kids living all over this world who will never come close to having the chance to stand in your shoes — kids in New Orleans whose schools are still recovering from the ravages of Katrina; kids who will never go to school at all because they’re forced to work in a sweatshop somewhere; kids in your very own communities who just can’t get a break, who don’t have anyone in their lives telling them that they’re good enough and smart enough to do whatever they can imagine; kids who have lost the ability to dream . . . “Think about all of these people and remember that you are blessed,” she said to the graduates. “You must give something back.” |
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| Passionate defender of garment workers dies on the job | ||
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He was in Bangladesh at the time, advocating for factory workers. Kearney had visited the country at least 50 times in the 21 years he headed ITGLWF. Says ITGLWF: “Neil was a brilliant and passionate defender of the rights of workers who was equally at home negotiating at the highest level or talking with workers on the factory floor.” Oxfam Australia’s labour rights team worked closely with Neil and the ITGLWF for over a decade, and will miss his energy, passion and commitment to the rights of garment and footwear workers around the world. The Clean Clothes Campaign reckons Kearney “worked as many hours as the exploited workers in the industry he dedicated his life to.” It is impossible to imagine the anti-sweatshop movement without him. |
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| Will Honduras return to democracy? | ||
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President Mel Zelaya was deposed in June, with only months of his term left to serve. This Sunday Hondurans will elect a new president to take office in January. The Constitution prevents Zelaya running for president again, but the election outcome may be questioned if he is not reinstated before the poll. Human rights groups and the international community say a free and fair election is impossible under present restrictions on the press and other liberties. Zelaya himself is calling for a voter boycott, while others fear violent unrest. Last month the de facto government finally capitulated to mass public protest, international solidarity, US & EU pressure and censure by trans-national players Adidas and Nike and agreed to an interim ‘power-sharing’ arrangement. But the deal collapsed within days. Now de facto president Roberto Micheletti has offered to step aside for a week to allow the country to focus on the election. Donors have been withholding foreign aid in protest against the coup, and foreign direct investment has plummeted. Oxfam is concerned for Hondurans, especially the poor, as they contend with severe floods and landslides. |
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Oxfam Australia works with communities to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. |
