Chiquita, R.J. Reynolds, More Named 2010 Worst Companies for Workers

Ensuring that workers have a democratic voice in their workplaces is an essential component in fighting trafficking and other severe labor rights abuses. But some of the largest companies in the world are total Scrooges when it comes to workers' rights to organize. Today, International Human Rights Day, we celebrate the right of workers to organize by promoting organizing against 2010's worst companies for workers.

International Human Rights Day acknowledges the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which includes worker rights and specifically protects the right to form and join trade unions. Despite being globally recognized as a human right, workers continue to see their freedom of association violated. Sometimes, the violations take the form of anti-union propaganda campaigns waged by employers. In extreme cases, those who stand up for their rights at work can face threats and even violent attacks. The International Trade Union Confederation notes in its most recent global survey of trade union rights violations that at least 101 labor advocates were murdered in 2009, which represents a 30% increase over the previous year.

Ever year, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) releases a report that highlights multinational corporations that violated workers' right to organize globally in the previous year. The new report released today, Working for Scrooge: Worst Companies of 2010 for the Right to Associate, names the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Chiquita, Dole, Del Monte, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company as the top violators of the right to organize. From the Philippines to Colombia to the United States, these companies have utilized a range of strategies to prevent workers from realizing their rights.

For example, we have written here before about how garment companies that are part of the BGMEA have joined with the government of Bangladesh in targeting labor and human rights advocates fighting for safer working conditions, decent wages and a voice on the job. Other companies like Del Monte and Chiquita have used subcontractors and other management schemes to weaken unions at their facilities. Dole has been involved in forming company-friendly organizations in the Philippines to undermine democratic unions and has been accused of using violence against workers in Colombia. R. J. Reynolds has refused to improve the difficult working conditions facing tobacco workers in the United States and has refused to meet with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO which represents thousands of tobacco farmworkers in North Carolina.

But International Labor Rights Forum is pushing the companies highlighted in Working for Scrooge for better policies as part of its Freedom at Work campaign. And it's working. For example, last year, Kraft was included in the report, but after receiving e-mails from activists, the company established an ongoing dialogue with ILRF about its labor and sustainability policies. The year before, Russell was among the year's Scrooges, in part for shutting down a factory in Honduras after a union formed in the facility. Public attention and campaign efforts eventually led to an enormous success. Russell agreed to re-open the factory, re-hire union workers and sign an agreement to ensure company neutrality if workers organized at other suppliers in Honduras.

You can join the campaign to un-Scrooge the world's worst companies for workers by sending an e-mail to these five Scrooges online here. And if you want to start your own campaign against a company that oppresses workers, ILRF has created a campaign toolkit to educate human rights supporters about union rights, how these rights connect to other movements and how to work to promote the right to organize.

International Human Rights Day is a great opportunity to tell these corporate Scrooges to start respecting the internationally recognized rights of workers in their supply chains. As consumers and human rights advocates, we can support those struggling for their rights by pressuring these companies to stop suppressing the voices of workers and to start negotiating directly with those affected by labor rights abuses.

Photo credit: International Labor Rights Forum (with permission)