Events
Labor Rights in the Philippines: Current Conditions and Future Prospects
Friday, June 17th, 2022 | 12PM ET
Join us and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance for a conversation with Josua Mata, General Secretary of SENTRO, the Philippines national labor center, on the state of labor rights in the Philippines as a new president, the son of former dictator Marcos, prepares to take office.
Briefing: Seafood Working Group (SWG) Findings on
Taiwan and Thailand for the 2022 TIP Report
From Forced Labor to Freedom of Association: Labor Rights Critical to Ending Abuses in Global Supply Chains
Thursday, April 7th, 2022 | 8:00AM to 9:30AM ET | 19:00-20:30 Thailand | 20:00-21:30 Taiwan
Human trafficking and forced labor remain widespread throughout the Thailand and Taiwan seafood industries, which supply consumers and brands across the globe. This is in large part due to discriminatory legal and policy frameworks, as well as government failures to promote and protect labor rights for vulnerable categories of workers. Labor rights, particularly freedom of association and collective bargaining, are critical to forced labor prevention, yet these rights are often denied or severely restricted for migrant workers.
Join this Seafood Working Group (SWG) briefing to learn about the current context for human trafficking, forced labor and labor rights in Thailand and Taiwan. Speakers include survivors, workers, unions and civil society organizations supporting migrant workers in the fishing sector and other industries.
This briefing will highlight findings and recommendations based on the formal comments submitted by the SWG to the U.S. Department of State’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The annual TIP Report has been the U.S. government’s principal diplomatic tool for engaging foreign governments on these issues for decades and has remained a critical driver of reforms in many countries. In 2021, Thailand was appropriately downgraded to ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ in recognition of ongoing forced labor of migrant workers throughout the Thai economy. Meanwhile, Taiwan has stayed at ‘Tier 1’ for twelve consecutive years despite well documented forced labor in its fishing sector.
Thailand and Taiwan play pivotal roles in the international seafood trade, meaning that U.S. consumer markets remain inextricably tied to abusive practices. Despite constant pressure from civil society, media, and processes such as the TIP mechanism, abuses continue, and many of the underlying causes are yet to be addressed. Join this briefing to find out more and become part of the movement for change.
Advanced registristration required.
GLJ-ILRF’s 2021 Labor Rights Defenders Roundtable
Women Leading Change: From Forced Labor to Freedom of Association
Monday, November 8th, 2021 | 12:00pm to 1:00pm ET
Join us on November 8th, 2021 from 12-1 P.M. EST for our annual event where GLJ-ILRF lifts up the voices, experiences, and visions of labor rights defenders on the frontlines of the fight for decent work and social justice.
Speakers include U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su along with women union leaders from around the world who are creating innovative models to defend labor rights and build worker power in food processing, manufacturing, and agriculture. Their work shows how workers are organizing around the world even in sectors that have historically relied on forced labor with women’s leadership at the front!
Registration for this event has closed. Please click the link below to watch the event live at 12pm ET.
To see a copy of the program, please click here.
Trade Subcommittee Hearing on the Global Challenge of Forced Labor in Supply Chains: Strengthening Enforcements and Protecting Workers
July 21st 10am ET
Witnesses:
- Neha Misra, Global Lead, Migration and Human Trafficking, Solidarity Center
- Jennifer Rosenbaum, Executive Director, Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF)
- Charity Ryerson, Executive Director, Corporate Accountability Lab
- Genevieve LeBaron, Professor of Politics, University of Sheffield
- Brian Lowry, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Regulation, and Trade, United States Council for International Business
Rise up with garment workers demanding an end to gender-based violence and harassment!
April 21st – 10am ET / 7:30pm IST / 2pm UTC
The global labor and gender justice movement is coming together to honor the life of Jeyasre Kathiravel, an Indian garment worker and TTCU union member who was organizing against gender based violence and harassment in her workplace, but after facing months of sexual harassment by her supervisor, was found murdered in January of this year. This vigil is a call to rise up and join in solidarity with garment workers who are demanding an end to gender based violence and harassment in the global garment supply chain.
1ra Cumbre Corredores por la Justicia Migrante
The Corridors for Justice project is launching the first international summit to foster alliances, strategy, and dialogue across migratory corridors of the Americas. The summit will be a space for migrant worker-leaders and organizers to articulate strategies to resist corporate and state-driven forced migration and racism and labor exploitation based on migration status. All of these enormous obstacles have been exacerbated by the effects of the Covid19 pandemic. At the summit, we will lift up strategies to transform these conditions by developing collaborations among participants and with allies in academia, culture, labor movement, and civil society.
GLJ-ILRF is co-convener of the summit and core member of the corridors for justice team.
You can find more information at: cumbrecorredores@gmail.com
Please register here for more details: https://forms.gle/VPUbLMyJFLUX5sAV6
2020 GLJ-ILRF Online Labor Rights Defenders Awards Ceremony
Thursday, October 1, 2020 | 6:00pm to 7:30pm ET
For the last eleven years, the Labor Rights Defenders Awards ceremony has brought together leaders and activists from the labor movement along with allies from the women’s, migrant, human rights and social movements. Together and stronger than ever as Global Labor Justice – International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), we are looking forward to the 2020 GLJ-ILRF Labor Rights Defenders Awards Ceremony where we will honor and uplift those on the front lines of transforming the global econoomy and fight for labor justice globally.
Our four honorees in 2020 are:
- Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), for her visionary leadership of the ITUC including the passage of groundbreaking ILO Convention on the elimination of gender-based violence and harassment and the advancement of a social contract for all workers.
- Lorretta Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, for her leadership of the American Federation of Teachers and her lifetime dedication to advancing the rights of educators and children in the U.S. and globally.
- The Chicago Teachers Union for leading a movement of students, families, and workers in our school communities to create change across our city and guide the future and for showing us how to fight and win.
- The General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana (GAWU) for their work to end child labor and organize and advocate for decent work in the cocoa sector.
We can’t for you to join us in celebrating these incredible leaders and organizations.
Women Leading the Fight for Violence Free Workplaces and Corporate Accountability
Wednesday, June 10th, 2020 | 12-1:15pm ET
Building Women Worker’s Power: From IL0 190 to Global Bargaining and Account
Thursday, October 3rd, 2019, 1-3pm ET
Migration Corridors: A New Approach to Migrant and Worker Rights and Power
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 – 4-6 pm ET
Building Women Worker’s Power: Building Power: Women’s Leadership in the Fight for Justice
Tuesday, September 24, 2019, 3-5pm ET