NEWSWORKERS' RIGHTS

This Holiday season lets tell Macy’s why we need them to join almost every other major jewelry retailer committing to responsible metals sourcing. Lets tell Macy’s its time to join them and sign the “Golden Rules”.

It's time to crank up the pressure on Macy’s. We need 1 minute from you today! Today we are flooding Macy’s phone lines. Think of it as caroling against dirty gold.

We’re asking for 1 minute of your day to call Macy’s and ask them to sign the “Golden Rules” for responsible metals sourcing. We want to call two representatives at Macy’s If you can only make one call that’s great!

Don't know what to say? Here are some suggestions:

1. Hi, I'm calling to urge Terry Lundgren (CEO) and Macy’s to sign on to the No Dirty Gold campaign. I want to know that Macy’s is doing its part to ensure that the gold it sells is not tainted with human rights abuses or pollution. Please sign on to the Golden Rules. Your customers deserve better. Thank you.

Written on behalf of Nilton Deza

This year, Macy’s is asking people to write a letter to Santa to help them collect “A Million Reasons to Believe.”  We’re all for writing letters to Santa and we’ve got a couple of requests of our own:

-That gold and copper extraction in Peru will not include child and forced labor

-That one gold ring will not produce over 20 tons of waste during production

-That gold mining will not lead to the pollution of water systems and the destruction of local communities

and lastly...

-That Macy’s- one of the largest gold retailers in the world- will help to transform irresponsible gold mining by signing onto the "Golden Rules" for clean gold.

Santa might not be able to make this happen but you can.  Here’s how you can put the pressure on Macy’s this holiday season:

This post was authored by Change.org petition creator and Target employee Anthony Hardwick. In November, 2011, Anthony launched a viral Change.org petition asking his employer to "Save Thanksgiving" and push the "Black Friday" opening from midnight on Thanksgiving to 5 a.m. the following morning. 

It's fitting that while I write a blog post about Gregg Steinhafel and the NRF'S trumped up Black Friday data, three Target Christmas ads blast me with manufactured cheer. In one of the ads a woman says good bye to her relatives after Thanksgiving dinner (must not be a Target employee) when she turns around her house is magically transforming itself for Christmas automatically. This ad more than any other sums up Target's feeling on the issue of Thanksgiving; its a holiday best ushered out the door with the in laws while the fun holiday where you get stuff takes over your life against your will.

In keeping with the best psychological warfare retailers keep repeating their party line, Christmas is about buying stuff, buying stuff, buying stuff. The average Americans affinity for Thanksgiving is a speed bump for that drive for shareholders demands of higher year to year profit margins. Failure to whip revenue skyward is an unacceptable outcome and as such the nervous decision makers at the top of the retail giants push aside anything that gets in the way, even if that means shoving families apart during the holidays.

On the surface it appears their efforts are proving successful. However when we dig deeper into the numbers provided by the National Retail Federation (please read propaganda arm of big box retailers) we see that in all actuality the feet through the door isn't nearly as impressive when actual sales are taken into account. Shouting from the rooftops a 6.6% increase in retail traffic doesn't convey the anemic sales conversion rate, a true indicator of shoppers parting ways with their hard earned money. Marshall Cohen of NDP estimates the conversion to be around 20%.  There is no doubt that there were more people showing up for the stores midnight and earlier openings, but those bodies were not shelling out the dough for what many consumers deemed less than thrilling "deals."

The reality on the floor was that gawkers showed up to see what the hub bub was and after seeing the grade A breed of crazy, opted to get out of the brick and mortars before the next pepper spraying or parking lot shooting occurred. These folks logged on to their computers accounting for over 4% of the actual sales. The result was a meager 2.8% increase in revenue over last years sales. Given the hype over the midnight open its no surprise the retailers got a little bump, and if I may Target, you are very welcome. Let's all admit that the various petitions and resulting press coverage did more for the midnight open than all the big box ad departments combined, though I'm certain Rick and I shouldn't hold our breath for a compensation check from our respective employers.  But why all the deception about sales figures?

Simple, the CEO's know they made a bad call on the earlier opens. The reset for shoppers was non-existent. After the initial pop the brick and mortar stores had seas of on the clock employees standing around looking at each other saying "we gave up Thanksgiving for this?" Factor in labor and store operations overhead and all of the sudden that 2.8% is nonexistent.

Add in the fact that most team members I spoke with couldn't remember a sale that included add on merchandise, meaning those who did buy stuff only bought what was on sale. When those two hundred dollar televisions were gone so were the shoppers.

Where did those shoppers go? All indicators are that they went to small business' on Saturday or if the preliminary figures hold up they went online on Monday. This is not good news for the boxes. If there is one thing the collapse of Borders has taught us its that the internet is a harbinger of doom for those silly and ignorant enough to ignore its allure.

Despite my towering rhetoric this is not an ideal situation for me. Despite my lack of faith in the brass at the top of my corporation of employment, I am not cheering for Target's demise. After all their paycheck keeps my lights on and if the VPs in Minneapolis drive Target off a cliff with their hubris then it'll be a little darker in Hardwick manor.

The answer is simple. Take a step back from all this Black Friday madness, save on over head with normal business hours on Black Friday, then offer unbeatable prices on the accessory attachments to coincide with real honest to god deals.  On top of that, institute a legitimate time off request system for existing employees and hire seasonal help. This cuts overhead in that you don't pay higher wages to existing employees because you're paying new team members the base rate of pay. Is it a sure fire solution, no, but it's better than trumping up some questionable data and hoping no one notices the reality of the situation.

Here's hoping big box retailers listen better to this idea than they did our Change.org petitions. Only time will tell.

More than 40,000 consumers have joined a popular campaign on Change.org calling on Hershey to commit to buying cocoa produced without child labor, forced labor, or trafficked labor in time for Halloween.

Raise the Bar, Hershey!, a coalition of organizations fighting ongoing labor abuses such as child slavery and child labor in the cocoa industry, is leading the campaign on Change.org following what they say is Hershey’s continued refusal to commit to purchasing Fair Trade cocoa for its chocolate candies.

“A decade ago, Hershey signed an agreement to help fight child slavery and other abuses in the cocoa industry,” said Elizabeth O’Connell, a member of the Raise the Bar, Hershey! coalition. “Yet it has done far less than other chocolate companies to address these abuses. This Halloween, thousands of consumers are telling Hershey they’re fed up with cocoa tainted by the abuse of children.”

News of the online petition campaign’s success is likely to increase pressure on Hershey. In addition to the petition, Raise the Bar, Hershey! is planning a call-in day, a Fair Trade Halloween costume contest, and rallies at Hershey stores in New York, Chicago, and Niagara Falls. The coalition has also produced a mock-commercial in an attempt to reveal the labor exploitation behind the Hershey chocolate many trick-or-treaters will receive this Halloween.

“What the consumers and activists of Raise the Bar, Hershey! have accomplished is remarkable,” said Amanda Kloer, Director of Organizing for Change.org, the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change. “With limited resources but strategic planning and execution, they’ve recruited more than 30,000 supporters, developed a hard-hitting video, and launched a social media campaign. Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere to demand action on the issues that matter to them, and it has been incredible to watch this timely campaign take off.”

The petition campaign has been covered by major news outlets across the country, including CNN, New York Daily News, and PC World. Raise the Bar, Hershey! says they are hoping to get a response from the company before Halloween.

Photo credit: Jelene

Fall is approaching, which means Florida will soon start supplying the rest of the U.S. with fresh tomatoes. And across the country, food chains including McDonald's, Burger King, and Sodexo will be buying tomatoes picked by free workers paid a fair wage and treated with respect. But not Trader Joe's. They have refused to sign an agreement that would guarantee their tomatoes came from suppliers who didn't use forced or exploited labor. That's why today, Trader Joe's customers have called a National Call-In Day asking Trader Joe's to sell fair food.

Modern day slavery is a reality for many farm workers right here in the United States.  In Florida alone, over 1,000 people have been identified as trafficked, and Florida tomato pickers are among the most exploited. They earn sub- poverty wages, lack most standard rights and benefits, and have not received a raise in over 30 years.  Trader Joe's represents itself as a socially conscious and progressive company yet it has refused to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' Campaign for Fair Food.

This week, Mars (the chocolate company behind popular favorites like M&M's) announced a major new commitment to support Fairtrade certified cocoa. Mars said that it would certify its Maltesers chocolate candy as Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland in 2012. While it may just be one product for now, Mars and Fairtrade International note that Maltesers are "the third biggest confectionery brand in the UK, and its switch will  represent more than a 10% increase in total UK Fairtrade sales," and most importantly, the commitment will lead to an excess of $1 million in additional funds as part of the Fairtrade Premium to cocoa farmers to invest in their communities. The announcement from Mars puts Hershey even further out of the mainstream by failing to commit to responsibly source its cocoa.

In 2009, Mars stepped forward as a leader among major chocolate companies in committing to certified cocoa when it announced that it would certify its entire cocoa supply as sustainably produced by 2020. This new announcement shows Mars' specific support for Fairtrade certification. Additionally, the company noted that it plans to "explore how best to scale up its purchases of Fairtrade cocoa, and will support Fairtrade’s continued efforts to develop measures that would allow more confectionery companies to increase their commitments to purchase more Fairtrade cocoa with the aim of impacting the lives of more cocoa farmers than ever before."

Conscious consumers have recently been growing concerned about child labor used to make imported goods -- rugs from India, chocolate bars from Ghana, clothing from China. But sadly, many of these consumers needn't look any further than their fruit bowl or vegetable bin to see the results of child labor -- even if they buy American. According to a report from Human Rights Watch, children as young as 12 regularly risk their health, safety, and future to work on farms in the U.S. growing food and other products for American consumers. But now, a growing movement of those consumers is looking to end exploitative labor for American kids.

At just 12 years old, a child in the U.S. can work for any farmer up to 14 hours a day during peak seasons -- and seeing children as young as 7 or 8 is not uncommon. They do not have to be paid minimum wage, and often see their small wages garnished for necessities like clean drinking water. Child farmworkers suffer fatalities at four times the rate of children performing other jobs, and their work can severely limit their educational opportunities.

There is no doubt that donating blood is extremely important. Every year 5 million U.S. patients receive blood. The Red Cross is the largest supplier of blood in the country. More than 40 percent of the blood supply is collected and processed through the Red Cross, which distributes that blood to more than 3,000 hospitals and transfusion centers. They are incredibly important, the Red Cross is facing some scrutiny from its own workers.

For 18 years, the Red Cross has been under a federal consent decree to improve its blood safety practices. The Food and Drug Administration has fined the Red Cross $37 million for blood safety violations, and the National Labor Relations Board has issued citations against Red Cross for violations of labor laws. The Worker Committee for Blood Safety believes the two issues are interrelated; the Red Cross isn't treating its workers well and that has resulted in less safe blood drives.

That is why they've started a petition here on Change.org. They are asking you to write to Gail McGovern, President and CEO of American Red Cross, and tell her that Red Cross must invest in its workforce to improve blood safety compliance and stop violations of workers’ rights. Specifically, the Worker Committee for Blood Safety wants adequate staffing at all blood drives, including at least one licensed nurse. They say that staffing has become a serious point of contention because the Red Cross is not consistent about staffing blood drives. Where drives in some states may be staffed by two licensed nurses, drives in other states have no licensed personel at all.  They want the Red Cross to adopt, publicize, and enforce a consistent staffing policy for all blood drives.

Sodexo is one of the largest food service companies, and the world's 21st largest employer overall. They have also been a regular target of protest on issues ranging from human rights violations, to environmental issues, to labor rights. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has long been in a battle with Sodexo over wages, benefits, and, perhaps most importantly, the right of Sodexo workers to organize a union without interference and intimidation from the company. SEIU has organized protests, day long strikes, and embattled organizing drives across the country, aimed at improving working conditions for Sodexo employees.

Change.org members have thrown their weight behind Sodexo workers as well. Over the last 6 months or so, over 800 Change.org supporters have emailed Sodexo's headquarters telling them they need to respect their workers, pay them a decent wage, and allow them to form unions if they want.

Recently, in part thanks to your support, SEIU made a huge step forward in this battle. The union and Sodexo have agreed to an amicable settlement. Under this settlement, SEIU and Sodexo have affirmed their mutual commitment to the rights of Sodexo employees to make free and informed choices about unionization. "With today's resolution in place, we will continue to serve our members and future members in the foodservice, cleaning, and security industries," said Tom Woodruff, SEIU Executive Vice President. The specific terms of the settlement are confidential, but these types of agreements are incredibly important in labor organizing efforts.